The Way We Love
by Lily Potter-Malfoy
Summary: Harry Potter has just broken up with his boyfriend. Draco Malfoy has no one but his daughter. Hermione sees a chance for romance for everyone but herself. And Ron behaves like...Ron. A story where people find love and even lust in unexpected places. HPDM
1. Beginnings

Lily: a NEW FIC!? So spank me! TLAV is winding down, I've essentially got the end planned out, this is my new baby! Um, the chapters are fairly long I think. So. This takes place in an alternate universe, Harry and Draco are **not **the same age and pretty much nothing is the same. It's still in a magical world I'll want you to keep in mind, just…not JKR's version…hence the AU.

* * *

Chapter 1: The First Meeting

* * *

5:50 a.m.

"_Hey Harry it's me, Todd, hey listen, about the dance tonight, I can't make it. Sorry babe, I know it's your final ball and everything but I've got a really important meeting and…oh shit, sorry babe I've gotta go"_

-Beep-

7:45 a.m.

"_Todd! What do you mean you can't come! You said you had absolutely __**nothing**__planned for today! I've already told everyone they could__**finally **__meet you! My mom and dad were so happy!"_

-Beep-

8:15 a.m.

"_Harry, babe, don't be like that! You __know__ I have a lot of work to do and things come up suddenly! I can't make it tonight but I really wish I could be there! You know I love you"_

-Beep-

9:20 a.m.

"_Todd, you had work to do on the day I moved into my new place, you had work to do the day my sister had her baby, you had work to do on my birthday __**and**__our anniversary! Why are you always working when it's important! Why is it you never seem to have time when I really need you!? Augh! Whatever, forget it, I'll just tell everyone you couldn't come…again"_

-Beep-

10:35 a.m.

"_Harry why are you being so bitchy about this!? I told you I have work, you should just accept it. I can't come to some stupid parties, so what!? It's not the end of the fucking world sweetheart, believe me, so quit your whining! I'll see you tomorrow at the J Bar, bye"_

-Beep-

"That fucking stupid, pig-headed, self-centered, son of a fucking bitch!" Harry snapped shut his blue Wizr and clutched the thing tightly in his fist. It seemed that, once again, his ultra busy boyfriend-of-two-years would not be able to attend an important event. Harry huffed and threw himself down onto the small couch.

Todd Buchanan had seemed like such a good choice of boyfriend for Harry. Good height, handsome, rich, and incredibly nice…that is, until they started dating. A few months of dating and Todd started missing things. After he missed the birth of Harry's first niece, things got much worse. It was at the point where they communicated by phone messages and terse emails with nothing but basic daily info. Cold, emotionless, and totally depressing.

"Merlin's Bells Harry, could you shout a little bloody louder!?" his best friend Hermione sidled into the apartment, extra key dangling from one hand and a bag of pad Thai in the other. Harry gave her a crooked smile and took the fast food from her

"It's Merlin's**Balls** 'Mione, not bells" he chuckled and took out some plastic plates. The frizzy haired brunette tsked and began setting out the food,

"I was trying to make it less vulgar Mr. Potter, there is a lady in here so it would behoove you to keep your own dirty mouth to a bare minimum" Hermione said, nose ridiculously high in the air. Harry snorted,

"Lady? Where? Because I'm pretty sure if there was a lady in here I'd be a lot more excited" Hermione smacked his arm,

"You wouldn't be, you like blokes!" she retorted. Harry simply raised an eyebrow,

"And? What's liking blokes got to do with wanting someone to talk about interesting things with? Now, I love you very much Hermione, but I'd rather talk about this month's latest news on tuna trade than on the slow decline of Ministry policy…for the zillionth time." Hermione delivered another smack to Harry's arm and scowled,

"What's so bad about talking about how our world's core, the fragile sheen of calm we wear like a layer of sweat over our society; slowly starting to smell, its stink seeping into our world like a rot. Well soon! Soon this pretense of order we have lived under for years will shatter and everyone will see that Minister Fudge is doing a terrible job as the executive and that---"

"and that Hermione Granger and Harry Potter must hurry the bloody hell up or they will be late for their 'girls only (except for Harry because he likes blokes) pre-party in which we will indulge in fattening snack foods and girly movies we will most likely cry over and be terribly jealous of the impossibly gorgeous and successful heroines' come now 'Mione, chop chop!" Harry grabbed a dish of Thai and slumped down onto the couch, flicked on the tv and stared fixedly at the nonsense on the screen. Hermione looked slightly offended at being interrupted mid-righteous anti-government rant but the Thai sitting on the table looked fabulous and the drive to Padma's apartment where the pre-party thing was being held was kind of long.

"You do know that I will most definitely not cry and I will not be jealous of some big breasted airhead who falls in love with some guy she never knew before in the span of anywhere from a day to a week under impossible circumstances. I refuse to believe real life is like that." Hermione said through a mouthful of Thai food. Harry just laughed

"Sure you won't 'Mione…suuuure"

* * *

Halfway across the city, Draco Malfoy was locked in a (losing) battle with a hairbrush and a small blonde haired girl who he had consequently leant a hand in creating.

"For Heaven's sake Fredericka, sit still so I can brush that hair of yours into submission!" he cried, trying for the umpteenth time to wrestle the squirming mass of girl into being still.

Draco Malfoy was generally known as a man to be feared and obeyed by all…all that is, except for his six year old daughter.

"No! Don't wanna!" she sang playfully, wriggling and escaping her father's grip. Draco gave a frustrated sigh and stood back, immediately the struggling stopped and the girl turned her enormous brown eyes (courtesy of her mother and _most certainly _not Draco's Malfoy genes) up to study her father.

"You" he said, pointing at the little girl "will not go to school looking as if I dragged you from a rubbish bin, you're late as it is, no need to go looking like riffraff" Fredericka, or Freddie as she liked to be called, smiled sweetly

"Then I won't have to go to school at all right?" Draco might have been madly and completely in love with his child but he wasn't fool enough to fall for her tricks, he saw straight through her.

"Oh no no no Miss Malfoy, you'll go to school. If you refuse to be dressed properly then I shall simply allow you to be taken looking like some riff-raff," he smiled slightly as Freddie, in a predictable fashion, suddenly looked a lot less confident of her plan.

"B-but, didn't you say that Malfoys are always impe…impeshable?" Draco smiled at her clumsy six-year-old pronunciation but continued with his act,

"Yes, Malfoys are always _impeccable_. And that means that we must always look the best, behave the best, and be the best" he said and the smile began to slip back onto her face

"But if you truly wish to look like a beggar then there's not much I can do but let you go to school like that. Of course no one will want to talk to you, Southward & Hobbs is a very prestigious primary school and all the other children will be dressed well, I imagine they'll make fun of you because you dress like an urchin" he slid a look over to Freddie and was satisfied to see her biting her lip in indecision. He was close and so he threw in the piece de resistance,

"And only well dressed young Malfoys get to go on Holiday this weekend to visit Grandmother and Grandfather in the country and also to ride their brand new pony…" he trailed off and watched her eyes light up.

"Okay I'll get dressed, but only if I can stay with Grandmother and Grandfather all weekend and not just a day like last time" she stuck out her chin defiantly and Draco knew that, though he already had many meetings that weekend he would have to cancel them; if a Malfoy wanted something, they got it and Freddie was Malfoy to the core.

Half an hour later, as he was walking out the door on his way to work, Freddie skipped down the curving staircase that led to the upper level of their London flat and did a little twirl for her father. Draco was pleased to see that she was the epitome of style and grace, even at her young age.

"Very good Fredericka, now remember to be a good girl at school and stay away from that Parkinson brat, he'll latch onto you faster than you can say 'no' and he'll stick for the rest of your life." He kissed her cheek and exited the building on his way to the private garage where he parked his cars.

"Another day…" he sighed, swinging into his Maserati and reversing out of the complex.

"Fabulous"

* * *

_2:20 p.m._

"_Harry, I know you're really mad at me and that this isn't the best time to tell you but I'm not going to have a chance in the future. I've just gotten an order from Up Top at work and they've given me a year abroad in Ireland. I'm being shunted to some fuck-off little town near the HQ over there and I'll be rooming with these three blokes from the company. Er, they've just told me right now actually and they've given me about four hours to pack and get my arse over to the portkey station so I can't very well drive over to see you and say goodbye. Um…since I won't be there, why don't we put it on hold for a while eh? Recently it seems that all we've done is fight so this is the chance to take a step back and look at things again. Um, I'll really really miss you Harry, you've got to know that; whatever you do, don't be sad um…and who knows!? Maybe taking a break and seeing other people will help us realize how much we love each other! Well anyway, I've to go, Don is shouting his bloody head off and I'm afraid he might die if I don't shut him up. I'll see you when I come visit!" _

Harry stared in shock at his answering machine, the bag of party leftovers he had happily hauled home (planning to reheat them and have a make up dinner with Todd) fell from his numb fingers with a dull _thunk _but it didn't break through his stunned haze. Like a zombie he shuffled into his living room and sat heavily down on the couch.

_Todd's…leaving? _

His mind tried to wrap itself around the message his boyfriend had left. Ironically, it was probably the most Todd had spoken to him (though indirectly) for the past month.

_He's going away for a year_

He was slowly losing the feeling in his body and he was sure his face was deathly pale.

_We've…we've broken up? _

His lips trembled and he felt something funny in the pit of his stomach.

There was a noise at the door and Hermione burst in jingling the car keys and rustling with her own bags of leftovers.

"Harry! I'm staying over tonight, that's okay right?" she called happily. When she got no answer she walked into the sitting room and took in the sight of her best friend staring blankly ahead. That never meant anything good.

"Harry?" she said, moving closer to him. He turned towards her and she saw tears in his eyes,

"Todd's leaving…to Ireland for a year. He's…he's broken it off with me." Harry said calmly. Hermione's eyes grew wide and instantly her good mood vanished.

"Oh Harry" she said and drew him into her arms. The only indication she had that he was crying was the slight shaking of his body as she held him.

"It isn't the end of the world alright? He's gone for a year and you guys breaking it off might be good, all you did was fight anyway and he was never there for you. Maybe some time apart will help" she soothed, rubbing his back. Harry looked at her and smiled

"That's what he said, and I will try to go out with other people, it's just…it's just that I really did love him"

He had stopped crying, he'd never been much of a tearful bloke anyway, and was wiping his tear-wet face.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. I'll help you meet some really great men and you'll have really wild sex on your carpet and when Todd comes back you won't be able to tell him what you've done because there've been too many and all he would have been able to get are spotty Irish blokes with…with red hair!" Harry laughed at Hermione's enthusiasm and squeezed her.

"I love you Hermione" he said and she grimaced

"Don't tell me you've switched sides?" she asked, giggling,

"Merlin no, I like to take, not give" he replied. Hermione punched him in the arm,

"I didn't need to hear that Harry Potter" she growled. Harry winked at her,

"Hey, what can I say? I'm not a charitable man!"

* * *

Southward & Hobbs boasted a reputation as the finest primary school of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Europe. The young mistresses and masters that attended all came from wealthy families and, even at their young age, the students adhered to the social structuring system that had been in effect for decades. Highest on the rung were the old money children, those from families with generations of money and breeding behind them. The older the money, the higher up one was. Next were the new money children whose parents had only had money for maybe a few generations or were new to money entirely, these students were almost always completely inept in social situations and boasted often about things everyone else had but didn't bother mentioning. The last on the social ladder were the mafia children, those whose parents got their vast wealth from mob involvement. They were crass and uncultured denizens of the underground life who most of the other children decide not to talk to.

At the school, the highest of the high positions was held by the young Miss Fredericka Antonia-Carmen Malfoy, though she was only six. Being thus determined as most socially acceptable to know, Freddie had acquired her very own entourage that seemed to follow her everywhere.

There was Nancy Crabbe, a hulking blonde girl whose only saving grace was her ability to intimidate jealous older students and keep Freddie safe. Then there was Jane Nott who was so plain of face and personality that Freddie kept her out of pity. Georgette Goyle was a bizarre genetic result of her huge oafish father and equally oafish mother; she was so good looking that people often wondered if she had been switched at birth. Ophelia Zabini was Freddie's best and closest friend and rarely paid any attention to the petty goings on within their young social circle. This was why Freddie liked her, even a Malfoy needed a break from the treacherous mine field that their social situation put them in.

"Freddie, are you going to Francis Kane's seventh birthday soiree? I hear she's hired a circus and will be serving truffles imported from Germany" Nancy, whose sole focus was always social events, asked that day. Freddie feigned a yawn and gave Nancy a pointed look,

"Nancy, you would do well to remember that I had a circus at my _fifth _birthday party and that truffles from Germany are easy enough to acquire, even by commoners" Nancy flushed and averted her eyes. Georgette spoke up,

"Yes but you are going right? We were all invited and it would be rude to decline" Georgette was such a little hypocrite, she was the one who had declined going to Avery Jones' seventh birthday party because "she has a crooked front tooth". Freddie pretended to think for a minute,

"No, I'm not going. Father is taking me to the family estate and I simply can't decline my own grandparents" Georgette and Nancy nodded,

"That's too bad Freddie, I know it won't be as good as _your _parties,_especially _since your dad always plans them the best, but won't you miss having fun with everyone?" Freddie nearly gagged as Nancy spoke. Everyone knew that she had a sickening crush on Freddie's father and when she was around him she behaved disgustingly. Ophelia rolled her eyes,

"Sounds like the teacher is coming, let's go sit" she said. Freddie's friends dispersed to their own seats as the footsteps towards their room grew louder.

Mrs. Garvey, their ancient teacher, was not the one who stepped in. Instead their principal, the handsome but slightly creepy Mr. Riddle, opened the door. This sent a wave of whispers through the class. Had old Garvey finally kicked the bucket?

"Children," Mr. Riddle drawled "Mrs. Garvey will be taking a break from teaching as she's had an…accident recently. Until your replacement arrives, your teacher will be Mr. Leon." The whole class groaned. Mr. Leon was the smelly music assistant who stood too close sometimes and breathed down people's necks.

Freddie sighed. It would be a long day.

* * *

Harry had had a terrible day. After the news about Todd last night he had thought life couldn't get any worse. He was wrong. On his way to work his car had decided to be a jackass and break down so he had been late. When he had finally arrived a car had driven by him and splashed the majority of a large murky puddle onto his pant leg. When he had walked in, tired and irritated already, his boss had asked him into his office and given him some most unwelcome news.

"I'm being transferred!?" Harry couldn't conceal his disbelief. He had been working at PWS-112 ever since he had graduated. He loved working with the young kids and nurturing their knowledge of magic. The kids at the school were from regular families and had grown up doing normal things. He loved seeing them having fun with their friends, but now he was being transferred!?

"Why sir? Is it because I was late? I've only ever been late once!" Harry pleaded. Gerry Jones, his boss, gave him a sympathetic look.

"No, it's nothing you've done; it's just that you're the most qualified out of our staff. You see, a guy I owe has recently called in his favor and he really needs a replacement teacher ASAP. The qualifications are steep and you're the only one who meets them. I'm sorry Harry, I really am." Gerry was a nice Boss and he wouldn't do this kind of thing normally and it sounded like he had really been in a pinch.

"Can I say goodbye to my kids then?" Harry asked, shoulders slumping in defeat.

"They're waiting for you in the room, I've already told them. You can get your stuff and go to the new school today and set up, you start work tomorrow." Gerry smiled at him and waved. Harry exited the office to say goodbye to his class and pack his things. Suddenly a thought occurred to him,

"Oh! What school am I going to?" he asked, Gerry turned

"Ah, it's Southward & Hobbs," Harry nodded, having never heard of the school. He turned to go and Gerry stopped him

"Oh and Harry" he said, "be prepared for a…different kind of school"

Harry didn't like the pitying look he was getting.

He didn't like it at all.

* * *

Draco Malfoy was the coldest most ruthless sonofabitch in the business of International Potions Supply. Ever since he had started his company, simply titled Malfoy Group, he'd known he wanted to be at the top. And in order to do that, he needed to be as vicious as he was smart.

Within a few years, filled with hard and endless work, his company was at the top of the rung. No other company could beat Malfoy Group's flawless service and quality. Draco had made it to where he wanted to make it and now it was time to expand.

The business of cauldron production and distribution had been monopolized for years by the mediocre and overpriced Henley Corporation which cheated people with low quality cauldrons. But if a wizard lived in Britain or many of the surrounding countries, they got their cauldron from Henley. Draco wanted to change that. He figured out a cost efficient way to produce affordable high quality cauldrons and sold his line. He started off simply and then branched off into specialty cauldrons, then luxury cauldrons. And within a few years, Henley cauldrons were like a bad memory and Malfoy brand cauldrons were the affordable and dependable brand that most everyone went with.

His business kept expanding in this fashion for some time. He became the wizarding world's best known entrepreneur and made so much money that he didn't even need the vast inheritance that had been left to him. His life was a smooth cycle of business, business, and more business with the occasional break for absolutely necessary human functions. Draco thought he quite liked the way he lived, the way everything was always in order and how it all went the way it was supposed to, without complications. Because Draco Malfoy's number one hated thing in the entire universe was complication. The word sent chills down his spine. How could he, a man who awoke at precisely 6 am every morning and ran on a schedule so exact that his life was nearly mechanical, tolerate anything, _anything_, going out of order?

No. He couldn't deal with it. His patience, seemingly infinite when it came to business transactions, was alarmingly short for things like mishaps and confusion. In fact, he quite strongly believed that all things relating to chaos were all forms of complication. If he woke up a minute later than 6 it threw off his schedule, that was a complication. If his five thousand galleon Homme by Jerome du Banlieu suit was not perfectly ironed and creased in the morning when he woke up, that was a complication. If his secretary neglected to schedule his routine check up of the factories and the conditions, that was a complication. For someone like him, complications meant aggravation. Aggravation which could have been avoided had things gone correctly.

Because of his extreme intolerance of complication, his staff prided themselves in their ability to avert even the smallest of crises. They did this so they never had to witness the truly terrifying sight of an enraged Draco Malfoy. His secretary, the extraordinarily nervous Mr. Harlem Tate, was especially on guard. In order to prevent the beast called aggravation from rearing its ugly head in his boss, Mr. Tate went to all kinds of trouble. He started out at Malfoy Inc. a young and generally happy twenty-something year old who looked ahead to a bright future. He had learned, after years at Draco Malfoy's side, that general happiness was an impossibility. His happy-go-lucky persona faded with the years of slaving alongside Draco to build the company, with the nerve-wracking work of keeping Draco's life smooth and uncomplicated.

Things had been going well recently, life seemed to be meandering along at a manageable pace. The business was growing, becoming more and more powerful and there was less and less frantic work to be done. But then something appeared, a blotch on Mr. Tate's peace that threatened to destroy everything.

Draco got married.

The woman was a beautiful witch who frequented the coffee shop Draco often spent his lunch hour at. Apparently she had sat with him often (as there were no open seats) and they had gotten to talking after she had thawed Draco enough. And then something miraculous had happened and the ice king, ruthless and apparently emotionless Draco Malfoy, had fallen for her. In the seven years since the rise of the Malfoy Group and since Mr. Tate had known Draco, such a phenomenon had never occurred.

The wedding was extravagant and widely publicized. Witches all over the world mourned the loss of the wizarding world's most sought after bachelor and looked with jealous eyes on his beautiful wife. Their wedding was perfect and the cold Draco Malfoy went through a thaw. Of course, business went on as usual, he wasn't someone who would neglect the thing he had built up for so long because of a woman. But his life began to deviate from the schedule he had kept it in for so long. His new bride dragged him away from endless work to do things with her.

"Live" she used to tell him, "because life isn't only about work". And Draco fell deeper and deeper into love with her. Within a few months of their marriage it was found that they were expecting a new baby. Nearly nine months of endlessly frazzled nerves had followed for Mr. Tate who had to deal with the nervous and irritable Draco at work. He was the one with Draco when they were in the car on the way to a factory check up and he got "The Call". He was the one with Draco wringing his neck (literally) and yelling at him to drive faster, screw the speed limit, they must hurry to the hospital. He was also the first Malfoy Group employee to lay eyes on the newest addition to the Malfoy family, little Mistress Fredericka Antonia-Carmen Malfoy.

It was just as Mr. Tate was finally relaxing with the newest development that something else happened. A complication so huge that not even the unbeatable Malfoy Group staff could prevent it. One that not even Mr. Tate could fix.

It had happened on the sunniest Monday they had had all year. Little Fredericka was in the Group daycare as Mistress Malfoy wished to visit with some friends. Draco was in Paris in an urgent meeting with their Malfoy Group France correspondents. All seemed to be going well until Mr. Tate's phone rang. He had picked it up, expecting it to be Draco with the situation update.

It wasn't Draco's voice on the line. It was an unfamiliar gravely male voice telling him that he had Antonia Malfoy. It took Mr. Tate a moment to realize who he was talking about, he had always just called Draco's wife "Mrs. Malfoy" or "Ma'am", but then it hit him. The voice on the other line was continuing, it said that he wanted Draco Malfoy to shut down Malfoy Group operations across the globe and to transfer all the money in his account to one he would name once the first order was complied with. He let Mr. Tate hear Antonia Malfoy's panicked breathing and what sounded like a smack followed by what w as unmistakably her whimper of pain.

Mr. Tate felt the anxiety well up in him, bigger and more powerful than it had ever been. He felt it gnawing at his nerves as he called Draco's emergency phone and waited for the man to pick up. When he did he sounded angry, undoubtedly so because he expected to never be interrupted in urgent meetings. But this was something unavoidable, he had to be told.

"Someone has the Mistress" was all Mr. Tate said. The line had gone dead and Draco had taken the quickest Apparition route to the office.

"They have Antonia…" his words were not a question, he didn't need to reconfirm anything, he knew that Mr. Tate would never had called his phone if it wasn't anything huge and that he wouldn't joke about something like what was happening.

The ensuing hours were chaotic and Mr. Tate couldn't remember what exactly had happened during that hectic time. Only that, in the final hours, after sending a team to find the people who had Mrs. Malfoy, after attempting to negotiate with them, that they had called again and let Antonia talk to Draco, no doubt a tactic to get him to give in.

"I'm getting the papers to shut down business Antonia, please just hold on" Draco had said,

"No" Antonia had replied.

"I won't let you take away all those lives my love. I am but one woman, can I allow only myself to be saved while putting thousands of people into as mortal danger as I am in now? No my love, I am indeed one woman, Malfoy Group is not just a company, it is thousands and thousands of people who depend on their jobs there to live. If you take that away then so many of them will die. You can live on without me my love, always remember that I love you, take care of our beautiful Fredericka. And remember Draco, Live…"

That day, Mr. Tate saw Draco cry for the first time.

When they found the group who had taken Mrs. Malfoy it was already too late. Her body had been riddled with the evidence of their violence; the forensics team had deduced that she had been killed by repeated administration of the cruciatus curse.

Draco Malfoy had dropped to his knees beside his wife's mutilated body, taken her hand in his own and bent over her prone form, hiding his grief from the onlookers. Mr. Tate had been the one to lead him away from her body after he had spent hours kneeling next to her.

Her killers had been discovered by the end of the next day by Malfoy Group private investigative forces. When the culprits were dragged before Draco he asked them only one question,

"why?"

The leader of the men had been the one to speak first,

"of course you wouldn't remember us. We're the sons of Icademius Henley. Or father went mad after your filthy company took over the business and bankrupted us! It's your fault he's dead! So we took someone precious to you!" Draco only looked at them. He saw their faces smirking as they brutalized his wife, he saw them laughing as one-by-one they cast the cruciatus curse on her, he saw them smirking triumphantly when her body finally gave out under the curses, when the light of life left her eyes.

His beautiful Antonia.

When he was finished with them, they had to be dragged out of the room, alive but broken and doomed to spend the rest of their lives in a prison even worse than Azkaban.

For two years Draco couldn't bear to look for too long at his daughter whose brown eyes reminded him so much of the woman he had loved. The layer of ice that had always seemed to be present in him returned, it was twice as thick. He lived like a zombie, working, working, always working. And then one day Fredericka had woken in the night and seen her father crying and holding a picture of her mother, she had toddled over to his and wrapped her tiny arms around him,

"it's ok" she had said. And just like that, she broke through Draco's misery and life had slowly come back to him.

That had been 2 years ago

* * *

Hermione found herself misspelling the word "the" for the third time that morning and knew that it was time to have a coffee break. She had stayed up all night with Harry, trying to distract him from the fact that his boyfriend was leaving (literally). Because of the constant stream of ice cream and shitty chick flicks they had imbibed in, she was completely trashed come morning when she had woken up after a mere two hours of shut-eye with an ice cream lid stuck in her hair.

She had barely made it to work on time and had found that she had neglected to button two of her shirt buttons which left her ugliest and least appealing bra open to the eyes of the many _many _men who had passed by her on her long trudge to the top floor of the building in which she worked. Even more mortifying was the fact that it had been Ronald Weasley, the maddening CEO of the company's English branch, who had pointed it out to her.

"what an arse!" she muttered to herself remembering the incident. Many people in the office quite liked Ronald Weasley, especially the women as he was, she grudgingly admitted, quite attractive. Of course, the fact that he was extremely well paid aided in boosting his appeal. She was told that usually he had an amiable personality and was easy to converse with. Some people didn't even know he was the CEO, and thus their boss, until someone else pointed it out to them. Hermione herself probably would be one of his admirers except that, from the day she had met him, he seemed completely set on _teasing _her at every chance he got. She was sure that this recent bra-incident wouldn't go unforgotten for a very long time.

"Good morning Ms. Granger" Hermione looked up and instantly felt her dark mood lift. Standing there, sifting through the mail and looking almost inhumanly handsome was the President of the company himself, Mr. Draco Malfoy.

If Ron was a pulse raiser than Draco Malfoy was a heart stopper. He was so good looking that some of the staff thought it a waste that he was a businessman instead of a model. Everyone knew the story of how he brought Malfoy Corp to greatness from scratch and that hard-working image coupled with his impeccable style and good looks made him close to irresistible. As his receptionist, Hermione was privy to quite a bit of the drama that went on in his office. She quite enjoyed watching as flustered representatives from other countries went in and out of the office, she especially loved to see the defeated and often angered opposition storm off after meetings. Her job, contrary to popular belief, was not an easy one. Any other receptionist to any other person in the company could have a much easier time of things. She was required to ferry important documents here and there, the review the reviewed documents that Draco's secretary gave to her, She had to know which calls to put through, which to keep waiting, and which to decline completely and the phone was always ringing. Her desk was kept in military order, a worldwide catastrophe could occur if a document from Draco's office were lost. She was required to do many other things and Hermione, a very meticulous and hardworking person naturally, was perfect for the job.

"Good morning Mr. Malfoy, would you like to hear your messages so far?" she asked him. He graced her with a smile and Hermione felt her heart flutter like it did when she saw a very good looking man,

"yes please" Draco replied.

'_Oh you yummy, yummy man, the things I would do to you if I could have the chance!'_Hermione thought,

"the secretary from Southward & Hobbs called to tell you about your daughter's teacher. It seems that Mrs. Garvey is indisposed and is being replaced. They say that there will be a parent meeting session this afternoon. Monsieur du Gaffe from the French branch called to say that he has to cancel today's meeting, he has an urgent doctor's appointment. And that, I believe, is all sir" she said.

Draco sighed. Du Gaffe's 'urgent doctor's appointment' was probably the cosmetic surgery he was rumored to be planning months before. Why he couldn't have scheduled their meeting at a different time if he knew he wouldn't be able to attend was beyond Draco's understanding.

"ah well, this is good I suppose, I'll be able to go meet this new teacher. You never know what kind of people they bring in these days, even at Southward & Hobbs. Some of these teachers are just pedophiles or even kidnappers!" he commented. Hermione smiled at him and he bid her good day before entering his office.

* * *

"ah, Mr. Potter, welcome"

Tom Riddle, the Principal of Southward & Hobbs gave Harry a slightly slimy feeling. Perhaps it was the way he smiled, or the way his eyes looked Harry up and down when he welcomed him.

"Ah, yes, thanks: Harry said uneasily and stepped into the Principal's office.

Southward & Hobbs exuded an air of old money and tradition. The Gothic architecture seemed a bit foreboding for a primary school but perhaps rich kids thought that flying buttresses and vaulted arches were normal. He thought that the décor was over the top for a primary school, gilded painting frames and marble flooring were things that belonged in particularly high end hotels in Harry's opinion.

"I must say Mr. Potter that I'm very grateful that you could come to us on such short notice! We really could not find anyone else." Mr. Riddle was speaking, Harry refocused on the conversation.

"Ah yes well, it was no real problem" he said _'except for the extra twenty minutes I've to drive to get here' _he thought.

"well, I'm sure you know all about the schooling system, it isn't much different here so I won't bore you with things like that. You'll be in charge of the 4-6 A class. Lots of good children in there. You'll want to talk to Ms. Parkinson who teaches 4-6 B, she's also fairly new but she can show you around so you don't get too lost. You have an office attached to your classroom, you can set that up later on today. School starts at six in the morning so you'll want to be here fairly early. Ah what else? Oh yes, there's a lunch break at twelve and, since you're in charge of the little ones, a nap right after. Other than that, I don't think there's anything else…hmmm…oh yes! There will be a parent evaluation later this afternoon. Southward & Hobbs parents are very interested in their children's education and their teachers, it's really just a formality, nothing to worry yourself over but you'll want to prepare for questions about your lifestyle, beliefs, previous occupation, and qualifications among other things."

Mr. Riddle gave Harry another one of his creepy smiles and led him to a room which he presumed would be his office. When he opened the door and shunted Harry inside, he was met with several pairs of large curious eyes.

"class, I'd like you to meet Mr. Potter, he'll be filling in while Mrs. Garvey recovers" Mr. Riddle was saying. Harry, quite unexpectedly faced with his future pupils, could only stare.

To say that they all appeared wealthy, even at this young age, was an understatement. Most of them simply _reeked _of wealth. Harry spotted one girl sporting a gold chain around her neck and then noticed that several of them wore similar if not more expensive pieces of jewelry. Several of the boys had miniature versions of adult watches in gold or what, Harry realized with horror, must be platinum. Harry wasn't much of a fashion aficionado but he knew without even checking the labels that the clothes these children wore most likely cost an entire month's salary for him.

"well Mr. Potter? Introduce yourself to them" Mr. Riddle smiled at him again which Harry didn't find particularly comforting but he sidled to the front of the room where a wave of body odor from the man he assumed was the sub until he took the position contributed to the nausea building in his stomach.

"Hello children, I'm Harry Potter, Mr. Potter, I'll be your teacher until…" _'Oh God what was that other woman's name….! Oh yes!' _"until, Mrs. Garvey is able to return. I hope we can all get along"

The children seemed unimpressed with his introduction and it received an ice cold response of skeptical stares from his miniature charges.

"ahaha, well, I'll let you children get on with your lesson, you'll all get to see Mr. Potter tomorrow when he takes over your class. Come now Mr. Potter, I'll show you to your office"

Harry hurried out after Mr. Riddle, grateful to escape from the scrutiny of the children and out into the hallway.

His office, it turned out, adjoined the classroom and was just down the hall. It was almost ridiculously spacious and came pre-furnished with several highly expensive looking items. Harry knew he would especially like the cushy brand new leather swivel chair that sat behind the desk.

"Well, Mr. Potter, I'll leave you to unpack for now. Make sure everything's in order by 4 when the parents can start coming by. I'm sure you'll do very well here, Welcome to Southward & Hobbs"

When Mr. Riddle exited, Harry sat down in his new chair and looked around the office, he had some tidying to do.

* * *

By the time Draco was able to escape the office it was nearing 6 in the evening and he knew he was perilously late for the parent teacher meeting. But he raced to Southward & Hobbs anyway and ran into the building hoping that the new person was still there.

He slowed down as he entered, running was not proper decorum for _anyone _who entered the school and it wouldn't reflect well on his daughter's image were he to be seen running like a madman, shamefully late for what should be an important meeting.

'_Well, the new old lady is probably still tottering around her office, probably putting lace doilies everywhere' _Draco thought, sparing a fond thought for the exceedingly granny-like décor of the previous teacher's office.

'_yes, and probably pictures of her grandkids. Perhaps some old cotton cardigans hanging about' _He thought further chuckling to himself as he reached the door and knocked.

"come in" a voice that didn't sound very old lady-ish answered. Feeling slightly puzzled, Draco entered the room and met the greenest pair of eyes he had ever seen in his life.

* * *

Harry had been scrutinized, patronized, and sneered at for two solid hours before he'd seen the majority of his class's parents. Only one was still missing but he was told by Ms. Parkinson that that parent was incredibly busy and that the mother had died so it was unlikely the father would show. He was feeling incredibly hassled but content, despite their disdain for his previous occupation, all the parents had to admit that his credentials were excellent and his record spotless. They sniffed at the fact that he was unmarried but couldn't find much else to point out as flawed. They had all left with a grudging approval of him.

He was in the process of putting on his coat and getting ready to leave when he heard a knock,

"come in"

He said absentmindedly as he hunted for his scarf. The door opened and he looked up into a pair of blue-gray eyes.

"hello…" he said,

"hello" the other man replied, "my name is Draco Malfoy."

* * *

Lily: OHMYGOD, 16 pages!? Have I EVER written a single chapter that flaming long!? Anyway, there's lots in this, it's been in production for a long long time, like, forever. Just this one chapter. I think I'll update this slowly since I'm planning on having very long chapters. Well, I hope you liked this very first chapter. Like I said, I wrote this over months, I'm not joking…it's taken me _months _to sit still and finish this off. Of course, it won't take nearly so long for the next ones, it's just hard to set the stage sometimes and get all the opening events in motion. Ah, now that I've got this done, I can relax and write the next chapter for my other fic (or, Idunno, study for that theater test tomorrow…that too). MAN, I really need to finish things! Anyway, I'm off! 


	2. Encounters

Lily: Wow! I got a really good response in the first chapter. Let's hope this second one is lovely as well

Chapter 2: Encounters

* * *

Mrs. Annalisa Buchanan was a firm believer of arranged marriages. She herself had met her husband Jacob just a day before they wed and had successfully borne him three lovely children. She was a witch born of the upper class, raised to speak, walk, dress, and _exist _like proper noble ladies did. She expected that her children have the same upbringing and that they, like she, would have their future spouses arranged.

Which was why she absolutely despised Harry Potter.

The dark haired little minx had shown up two years ago, attached to her precious eldest son's arm and smiling at her in that completely innocent way that she could find no real reason to hate. They had babbled some nonsense about meeting in a bookstore, Annalisa wasn't listening, she was busy sneering at one ragged end of the denim (_DENIM!_) trousers the Potter brat was wearing.

As if it hadn't been enough that the brat was stuck to her lovely son, Annalisa soon found out that he was not of the noble pureblood class her family belonged to, nor did his family possess anything of great monetary value (such as a refurbished castle in the Irish moors which had hundreds of rooms, three grand ballrooms, two separate spas, four pools indoor and outdoor, and two big saunas among other things). Annalisa admitted to herself that the boy was very attractive and pleasing to the eye, but looks weren't everything. Blood and good breeding were of more importance to her than that.

She had contented herself with the assumption that this new boy was just a phase for her son and he would tire of him within weeks.

When Christmas had rolled around and Todd had invited Harry to the family home, her assumption was shaken. But she was a very stubborn woman, she could wait longer for him to snap out of it.

And then it was the next Christmas and Harry was welcomed back with her family. Her two youngest children adored him and even her husband had taken a shine to him. Annalisa despaired. How could she ever turn Todd's eyes to the lovely (but maddeningly vapid) Kathleen de Beaufort, heiress to the vast de Beaufort fortune, if his own eyes were permanently glued to his little minx of a boyfriend!?

Annalisa had spent two solid years hoping and praying that something would happen to wrench the couple apart. She had assured the de Beaufort family that her son was just fooling around before he had to settle and marry Kathleen. While she waited anxiously for Todd to come to his senses, she didn't witness the slow decline of his relationship with Harry. She didn't know that all her feverish hoping was essentially for naught as the couple seemed doomed for separation for some time.

Which was why, when she received Harry into her home and he brought with him a box of Todd's things, she was very badly surprised.

"What is the meaning of this?" she squawked, flapping her hands at the box. Harry smiled up at her looking worn and distinctly hassled,

"it's finally happened Mum" he said (he called her 'mum' and Todd's father 'dad' as they were so close and it felt as if he and Todd were already married anyway) and dropped the box.

"What!? What's happened!? Is everything alright with my son?" Annalisa said, suddenly worried. Harry laughed and shook his head,

"no, but he really should have contacted you before leaving." Harry dusted himself off, Annalisa narrowed her eyes at him,

"I am sure I have no idea as to what you speak of" she said primly, sniffing. For a minute, a flash of something that seemed to be pain crossed Harry's face before he was back to looking just tired again,

"Todd and I have broken up…he's been relocated to Ireland for a year. I just…I figured I should return some of his things" Annalisa registered the slight tremble in Harry's voice that always meant he wanted to cry. His eyes were also very suspiciously bright.

"well…well it's a good thing you've finally decided to let go of my son!" she said gruffly and patted Harry's shoulder .

"Oh mum! I really did love him! And now he's left!" Harry cried and suddenly, unexpectedly, threw himself into Annalisa's arms. In the next minute he was sobbing into her shoulder and she could do nothing but guide them to sit on the couch and rub soothing circles on his back.

"Come now Harry, proper young gentlemen don't cry on ladies. You're wetting my new blouse" she said gently. For once she dropped all pretense and comforted the obviously heartbroken young man in her arms, holding him close and stroking his hair.

Because though Annalisa said she didn't want Harry for Todd, she knew that it had been Harry who made Todd the happiest, Harry who put smiles on all her children's faces, Harry who knew just what to do to make everybody happy.

"You silly boy, stop weeping. You know my son wouldn't approve" she said and Harry sat up, wiping away a few of his tears,

"sorry Mum, I guess I still had some tears left over from last night" he said, sniffling. Annalisa sniffed daintily and summoned a house elf for some tea, she put a steaming cup of Earl Gray in front of Harry

"now come and drink up and when you've finished you will take that box right back to your home and keep it. Those are things my son gave to you, he wouldn't be very happy to know you've returned them"

* * *

Later, as Harry walked out, carting the box once more, he turned and smiled at the woman he'd been so sure would one day be his mother-in-law

"Don't think you've rid yourself of me just yet mum, I'll still come round come Christmas" he said. Annalisa scowled, already returned to her usual self,

"Please spare me the unpleasantness of your presence and find some other family to bother" she replied. Harry laughed and turned to go,

"just so you know, you insufferable brat, I've decided to give my son the choice of who he marries…between you and me, having that Kathleen as a daughter-in-law would have been _dreadful_" Annalisa said to him. He smiled at her again,

"goodbye mum!"

"stop calling me that!"

* * *

As Harry sat back into the steamy hot bath, he felt all his muscles relaxing and unwinding. When he had gotten home from Todd's family's house, he had felt a little sad and so he did the one thing that never failed to give him cheer.

The bath in his house was extra large and made to accommodate Harry' s extreme love of taking long luxurious soaks. Much like a Jacuzzi with many faucets, the bath was larger than its muggle counterpart and had more functions. Currently, Harry had the whirlpool on and breathed in the scent of white roses (the bath essence he had poured in).

"What a terrible day" he murmured, watching a lone bubble waft up in the air before popping. He began to recall all the things that had gone wrong. Waking up after sleeping nearly not at all and with various parts of his body sticky with ice cream, dashing about his flat to get ready for work, being _late _for work for the first time ever and then being transferred to a snooty rich kids school, and then all of the parents scrutinizing him as if he was some sort of lab animal.

'_well…not all of them' _he thought, his mind going back to the last parent to arrive, Mr. Draco Malfoy.

To say that anything in particular had happened when they met would have been a lie. It wasn't that the earth had moved or the heavens quaked when Harry first clapped eyes on Draco Malfoy but, unless he was just imagining it, Harry was sure he'd felt…felt _something _pass between them. He wasn't quite sure what that something was, perhaps it was simply because he was in the presence of an extremely good looking man, but the feeling had stuck with him even after their meeting was over and, for reasons unknown to he himself, Harry could not forget those blue-gray eyes.

* * *

The lift at Hermione's flat was a travesty of modern mechanics. Unlike the smooth soundless glide from floor to floor that she experienced at the office, the elevator where she lived was a jerky and dangerous deathtrap of ages old rusting metal. Harry always told her to move into a wizard complex where the elevators only lurched and jumped because of faulty or weary magic but Hermione insisted on staying. Many times during the week she asked herself why and never regretted it more than when she was in the lift.

Today was no exception. She rued the day she had set eyes on the ancient building with its defunct lift, she gave herself a mental smack for ever deciding to live in the building, she ground her teeth at ever having had the notion that today of all days the lift would want to behave.

"Well, isn't this the greatest bit of bollocks?" the woman who was trapped with her murmured. Hermione cast a sidelong look at her and gave an awkward smile of agreement while mentally cursing the woman's presence.

Hermione was a witch and being thus she could have easily apparated into her flat but, with this woman who was most likely a Muggle right next to her, she didn't dare. Instead, she waited, with growing impatience, for the lift to start working again.

"You look as if you've had a hard day" the woman was speaking again, Hermione decided that ignoring her in such an enclosed space would be incredibly rude so she turned and said,

"yes, it's a very busy week at work" the woman nodded and fell silent, Hermione turned back to face the lift doors.

"excuse me but…but the M on your briefcase, does it stand for anything?" Hermione looked down at her briefcase, the front of which was emblazoned with an enormous stylized silver M (for Malfoy corp.), and then back up at the woman who was waiting for an answer.

'_This woman has__**got **__to be a Muggle' _Hermione thought_'there's nobody in the wizarding world who doesn't know about Malfoy Corp.' _

"It's the designer signature I believe" she lied, the woman's eyes seemed to show disappointment for a second, _'odd' _Hermione thought.

"Why? What did you think it was from?" she asked, and the woman looked nervous all of a sudden,

"it just looks like the logo an old friend of mine said he'd use for his company when he launched it" she said, averting her eyes. Hermione probed further,

"really? This friend of yours, what was his name?" she asked over-casually, the woman looked at her startled,

"why?" she asked, Hermione stepped back,

"just…just curious is all. Nothing much else to talk about trapped in the lift" she explained hurriedly. The woman seemed to hesitate for a second before sighing and saying,

"you might find this name odd but, his parents were er…unique…" Hermione gave her an encouraging look and she continued,

"his name's Draco, like dragon" she said. Hermione felt shock slam through her, hardly daring to believe the connection her mind had made (after all, Draco, as a name, had to have been popular with Muggles too at some point)

"Draco…Draco**Malfoy**!?" she gasped and the woman whipped around and stared at her, openmouthed with shock.

"H-how do you know him!?" she asked and Hermione said,

"he's my boss! How do _you _know him!?"

"He was my best friend! We grew up together!" suddenly comprehension hit them both, the woman raised a finger and pointed at Hermione and Hermione pointed at the woman

"are you a witch!?" they both asked and then gasped when they realized what the other had said.

"I think" Hermione murmured "that we need to head to my flat and sit down for a chat and some good hot tea" the woman nodded in agreement.

Seconds later, when they had both apparated to Hermione's room (the woman side-along since she couldn't apparate there without knowing what it looked like), they sat across from each other, hot tea steaming in cups in front of them.

"So, I suppose we should begin with names" Hermione said, "I'm Hermione Granger" she extended a hand, the woman leaned forward and shook it,

"I'm Pansy, Pansy Parkinson. Nice to finally meet another witch in this crumbled old place."

Hermione smiled and Pansy smiled back. Perhaps it was because there was finally another witch she could relate to in her building but Hermione felt that living there, even with the ancient decrepit lift, wasn't so bad.

* * *

When Freddie returned home, the butler Yeats greeted her at the door, took her coat and school bag, and directed her to the kitchen where Magna, the maid, had cookies and milk waiting for her. Freddie ate a few cookies and drank some milk while she did her homework and when all that was done, she was free for the rest of the evening.

Since her father was rarely ever home to play with, she retired to her room and picked up a book, intent on reading until it was time for dinner.

The Malfoy residence in London was a spacious penthouse flat with two levels. It had four bedrooms, two sitting rooms, two dining rooms, a ballroom, an enormous balcony, the kitchen and butler's pantry, and six bathrooms. Mostly the extra rooms were for when the Elder Malfoys came to visit their son and grandchild in London but most of the time the house was empty. Freddie was already used to the incredible quiet that seemed to be the permanent state of things in the house and actually enjoyed having the peace when she wanted to sit and relax. But she _was _a six year old girl and more often than not wanted to feel that the place she lived in was more of a regular home than a mausoleum. She often wished that her father didn't have to work so much and could be at home with her, keeping her company much in the way Magna usually did. Not that she didn't like Magna, she loved how she always had a snack ready for her when she got home from school and how she took care to tell the chef what Freddie wanted to eat for dinner and breakfast, but Magna was old and mostly sat on a comfortable chair and knitted things for her grandkids. She couldn't run around and play or take Freddie out when she wanted to. Having Magna as a maid and nanny meant that Freddie spent much of her days inside the flat reading (unless it was a day for her piano or violin lessons in which case the instructors would come to the house and teach her).

Freddie sighed and turned a page in her book, eyes flicking over the words without really seeing them.

Some time later, she heard the door open and Yeats, sounding slightly surprised, say

"welcome home Master" suddenly excitement shot through her and she jumped out of her bed and raced to the stairs. When she reached the landing she looked down and saw her father handing his coat to Yeats,

"daddy!?" she cried, almost not daring to believe it,

"I'm home" he said smiling. Freddie let out a rare squeal and raced down the stairs then flung herself into her father's embrace.

"Why are you home so early!?" she asked,

"I had a cancellation so I went over to your school and met that new teacher then I decided to come home so I could eat dinner with my little girl" Freddie smiled, happy that, for once, her father was there to have dinner with her.

"Well, dinner isn't for a bit so let's head to the living room and you can tell me about your day" her father smiled at her and swung her onto his shoulders. They headed to the living room to wait for their dinner and talk.

* * *

8:50 p.m.

"_Hermione, I'm on my way to the café, I got a little held up at my place so sorry for my lateness in advance. I'll see you in a bit, love you!"_

-Beep-

9:01 p.m.

"_Harry it's alright that you'll be a little late, oh, by the way, I have someone coming with me. She's a witch! Can you believe it!? Another witch in my building! And you said I'd never catch another witch dead in that place! Anyway, we're already here so hurry yourself up!"_

-Beep-

"Another witch?" Harry stared at his phone quizzically as the bus jostled its way through the streets. One stop away from his destination, the corner next to the little café he and Hermione always met at, Harry was already half an hour late and dreading Hermione's punctuality lecture. But perhaps if someone else was there he'd be spared.

"I wonder what kind of witch would want to live in that crumbling old deathtrap" Harry mused to himself as the old bus screeched to a slow stop. He got up and waved to the old bus driver before exiting into the semi-sticky night air.

* * *

"Your friend is sort of late" Pansy commented, blowing on her steaming hot chocolate. Hermione chuckled dryly

"yes, this isn't unusual. If it doesn't pertain to work, he'll more than likely be late." The pair sat at a table outside Café Bambino sipping drinks and waiting for their orders to be brought to them. They had brought one more of the spindly wrought iron chairs for Harry to sit on when he arrived but it had been 30 minutes and the place was getting full. People kept on asking for the chair and Hermione kept on having to tell them it was reserved for their friend who _should_be arriving soon.

"hey lady, your friend doesn't seem to be coming, can I have the chair now?" a hassled looking man loomed over the two women, staring expectantly at them. Hermione gave a nervous chuckle and slowly hooked her foot around the chair under the table

"I'm sorry, my friend just called" Hermione began to say "he's actually right on his way so if it's no trouble to you--" but was cut off by the man who suddenly threw his hands up and gave an exasperated groan

"whaddya mean 'if its no trouble to you'!? I've been here for twenty minutes and I've got nowhere to sit. And here you are with a perfectly available chair spoutin' some sort of bollocks like 'I've got a friend on the way!' of course it's trouble to me!" the man's shouting had attracted attention and Hermione, not liking the high pitched falsetto he used to imitate her speaking or the fact that he was being so embarrassing about it, was about to stand up and give him a piece of her mind,

"Sorry I'm late!"

She turned, mouth open and ready to give the man a firm talking to and saw Harry standing there looking slightly confused.

* * *

Harry only needed to look for Hermione's familiar bush of curly brown hair to find her easily even in the crowd of people sitting outside the café. As soon as he found her (or rather, her hair) he set off towards her table, noticing a semi-familiar head of blonde hair at the table with her.

"That must be the friend" he said to himself.

He continued to walk and was close to them when a man with a face that looked as if he'd just sucked on a lemon approached Hermione. He couldn't hear much over the chatter of the other customers but, from the terrible look on the man's face and Hermione's frown, he could tell it wasn't a pleasant conversation. The man raised his voice and Harry rushed forward, seeing Hermione become very close to losing her temper (and politeness).

"sorry I'm late!" he said, running straight into the situation and, hopefully, breaking a little bit of the tension he could see quickly building.

Hermione stared at him, her mouth comically open, for a few moments before regaining her composure,

"Harry! You're here_finally_" she said brightly (but Harry did not miss the veiled threat in the word 'finally' and knew he would get all sorts of lectures when they were alone). The man, seeing that the prophesized friend had finally arrived grumpily backed off and left them alone.

"What took you!? I was nearly eaten by that man!" Hermione exclaimed once said man was out of earshot. The pair turned to their table and Harry laughed,

"no you weren't 'Mione, in fact, it looked as if _you _were ready to eat _him_! Now, let's have an introduction between me and this new witch you've met" Hermione grumbled but said nothing else. When they sat, the slightly familiar blonde woman had her head turned away from them apparently studying a couple across the street. Hermione cleared her throat and the blonde woman turned, both she and Harry gasped upon seeing each other,

"Ms….Ms. Parkinson right?" Harry said. Pansy nodded,

"And you're the new teacher Mr. Potter right?" Harry too nodded and broke into a grin,

"well isn't this a coincidence!?" Hermione looked confusedly between them,

"do you two…know each other from somewhere?" she asked.

"she works with me in the same age level…er…I forgot to tell you but I was transferred to another school today. It's this fancy posh place called Southward & Hobbs, looks like I'll be there for a while" Harry explained, Pansy nodded in agreement,

"yes, I told you I work at Southward & Hobbs because my Uncle sent his niece and son there and pulled some strings so that I could work there and also take them home and serve as their nanny after school" she said. Hermione nodded,

"this is indeed a coincidence" she said. Harry laughed,

"well, the wizarding world connects people in strange ways. Now, who do I see about getting myself a latte, I've been dying to have one!"

* * *

Business at the Malfoy Corp. office was running smoothly. Papers were passing hands, phone calls were being made, deals were being put to bed. The halls were filled with the echoing clicks of people's shoes, the endless shuffling of papers, and the barking shouts of superiors telling their workers to do this or that and get the job done. These were the noises Draco Malfoy loved, they were the sounds of success in the making.

"You look positively glowing mate. What's happened? Finally get a decent lay?" Ron Weasley swaggered into Draco's office, characteristic grin on his handsome face,

"don't say useless things Ron" Draco said, glancing briefly up from his paperwork to look at the redhead.

"Unnecessary? There is no such thing as an unnecessary lay my friend, you just haven't learned the value of that. A pity really, so many of these office ladies would have said yes to you even before you asked." Ron threw up his hands in mock exasperation and flung himself onto the couch Draco sometimes slept on if he had a late office night.

"Sometimes I think the only thing on your mind is sex and I have to wonder why I thought you were the man best suited to the job" Draco said "I mean, my_secretary _sometimes seems like a better choice, at least she's serious from time to time" Ron laughed. This was an old conversation of theirs and Ron knew that, though Draco said these things, he meant none of it.

"You Secretary you say? What's her name again?" Ron pretended to think,

"you should know Ron, you've teased her since the day she stepped into this office" Draco's eyes flicked up briefly to give the other man a mildly disapproving stare,

"but she's just so cute and funny when she's flustered! She reminds me of my little sister before she grew up and turned into my mum"

"I know you have some sort of strange little sister complex Ron but you can't keep on hassling my secretary because of it. I suggest what you keep on telling me to do, get a girlfriend"

Ron paused for a minute to consider Draco's proposal before shaking his head,

"nah" he said "steady commitment and all that doesn't really suit my tastes. It's not like I need a woman flitting around me all day, minding me, telling me what socks to wear in the morning…"

Draco rolled his eyes "its not like you've tried it, it's not so bad having someone care about whether your socks are clean, amongst other things. Besides, most men who spout that commitment shite are playboys and, unless I'm mistaken, you've not exactly been doing much of that now have you?"

Immediately Ron's face reddened (he cursed his fair skin) and he spluttered indignantly,

"w-what do you mean!? Of course I've been…you know…doing some of that! Just, just not in the office!" he crossed his arms and glared at the other man. Draco calmly shuffled his papers into a stack and got up,

"well that's good then. Bring whoever it is you're seeing sometime and I'll treat you both to something good" he walked over to a filing cabinet and tucked the papers away "now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lunch meeting with the Japanese CEO of MagiTek which, by the way, you should be at as well. I have to get freshened up and I'm going to subtly imply that you do the same."

And then, in an imperious manner that Ron had only ever seen Draco manage to effect without seeming presumptuous, he raised his eyebrow and strolled out of the room. Ron, left behind, was hit with the sudden urge to straighten his tie and, perhaps, tuck in his shirt.

* * *

The ornate circle driveway that curved in front of the Parkinson family estate on the outskirts of London was in a frenzy of activity. The Mistress was preparing to leave for Paris and her car was being loaded with her belongings. As she would be gone for two months at the least, she was first taking thirty-two pieces of luggage with her and having another forty sent after her arrival in Paris.

Aside from this commotion, a sleek Town car sat at the ready to take the Young Master and Young Mistress with their nanny to school. The drive to Southward & Hobbs would take half an hour if the traffic wasn't too bad, if otherwise perhaps an hour, so Pansy always got the children ready well before it was time that they leave. That morning young Patrick Parkinson complained bitterly as he was forced to eat his fruits with his breakfast, his cousin, Marguerite Fourier, picked dispassionately at her toast. Pansy flitted around the house gathering their things for school and shouting at the children to hurry up and finish eating.

"That girl is such a dragon" one of the newer maids whispered, watching Pansy charge past her down the hall in a desperate search for Marguerite's shoes. The maid she was talking to, called Hebe, sighed,

"but she's got to be that way to keep those to children in check. You won't know since you're new but she's actually related to the Master" the other woman gasped, shocked,

"but then why does she run about working like a nanny!? I thought that the whole family was _loaded_" she said. Hebe tsked,

"Most of them are, but that girl's family is different." Hebe leaned forward and lowered her voice conspiratorially, "her father is the Master's youngest brother. It was thought at the time of his birth that the old Mistress had had an affair and that the Master's brother was another man's son. Naturally they didn't dare have any tests done, imagine the mortification! So the Old Master settled for mistreating the youngest and the Mistress was banished to Malaysia where she died without ever seeing her last child. The youngest, James was his name, was sent to a commoner school and prevented from learning the necessary skills in order to do anything useful in the future. The old Master refused to send him to university and kept him at home as a manservant until young James finally ran away and found a woman to marry. That girl is the product of that. Now many years passed and finally the old Master did a blood test, maybe he'd been feeling guilty for never confirming it all these years. The old Mistress had indeed been having an affair but she ended it long before young James had been conceived, the boy had been his all along! The old Master died of grief and, because it was so sudden, his will was never rewritten to include James thus the entire family fortune was given to the three elder siblings and James was left to continue his life as a destitute." Hebe leaned back, satisfied with the look of rapt fascination on the other maid's face.

"how unfortunate! And none of his siblings tried to help him!?" she exclaimed, Hebe shook her head sadly,

"the middle two, a girl and a boy, were greedy, they both got married, had children, and passed away very early on leaving their share of the money to their families. Master searched for his brother for quite some time after he left home but James was hidden and seemed to have taken another surname. It's only recently he ran into Miss Pansy applying to work at the young Master and Mistress' school and approached her about this nanny job. I suppose he's trying to make up for his father's sins" both maids lapsed into thoughtful silence.

"That was an interesting story Hebe" a voice behind them said, the two maids whipped around to see Pansy there giving them both a sour look, "but I would greatly appreciate you not spreading my family's history around the staff"

Hebe flushed lightly and stuttered something about needing to clean the kitchen before running off closely followed by the other maid who hadn't even managed to make an excuse before scuttling off.

When both women were gone, Pansy sighed deeply and walked towards the kitchen clutching Marguerite's shoes in one hand. She wasn't a typical upper class girl, she was born of some of the bluest of blue blood but was raised regularly so she didn't have any of the upper class indignation at having her family talked about by lower class hired help; it was just that she resented having the family history that she herself had only learned about a few months ago being told so freely by people who shouldn't have known it in the first place.

"Children, let's get ready to go!" she called, as she entered the dining room. Patrick grumbled and slid off his chair, grabbed his bag from Pansy's hand, and stomped outside to the car. Marguerite put on her shoes, and started to follow her cousin outside, Pansy stopped her,

"your bag, Marguerite" she said, holding the item out to the girl who obviously resented being told to carry her old things,

"you are ze 'elp" she drawled, her thick French accent making her sound even more pompous,

"you shall carry my_sac-a-dos_" she made to turn around again and again Pansy stopped her.

"I am not the 'elp Marguerite. I am the reason you're allowed to go out when you wish and the reason your mother in France even allowed you to stay here without at least a bodyguard. So now you will take your bag and you will go to the car and we will go to school" Pansy held out the bag and stared hard at the girl until, with a sniff, she took it and pranced off outside. Pansy sighed deeply again, Marguerite was the epitome of a typical upper class witch. Pompous, stuck up, and spoiled beyond all mention. If Pansy wasn't prepared to deal with this kind of child, she might have ended up slapping the girl. She sighed again and went outside.

Patrick and Marguerite were already inside the car, Pansy took a second to say goodbye to the Mistress (who had just come outside and was ready to leave to France) before getting into the car.

"Does everybody have everything they need?" she asked. As usual, both children ignored her and, as usual, she turned to the driver and told him they were ready to go.

* * *

For the 4-6 age group classes A-C it was recess time. Since the day was slightly overcast and looked as if it might rain, the children stayed inside to play. Harry, looking around the room, felt relieved that, rich or poor, recess was essentially the same for children.

His first day teaching at Southward & Hobbs had gone by so smoothly that he himself almost couldn't believe it. The children were skeptical of him at first and treated him as if he was a bomb that might explode. Then, while passing out papers, he had tripped and fallen, the papers had flown everywhere and caused a big mess. The children, not knowing what to do, had watched him silently. Harry had sat up and started laughing. Then, one by one, the children also began to laugh and from then on they had relaxed. This was why he loved children, they were much quicker to accept people.

"You look happy" Harry turned to smile at Pansy who sat next to him. The two 4-6 classes always joined together for recess thus the other woman had brought her class over to Harry's classroom and they sat together at his enormous desk, grading papers and chatting while they watched the kids.

"I am, these kids are a lot nicer than I'd thought they'd be" he replied. Pansy laughed,

"I know what you mean, I'd thought they'd be a bunch of mean stuck up old rotters but they're actually sweet little ones" they both laughed.

On another side of the room, Freddie Malfoy sat in the center of most of the girls of both classes.

"Hey, what do you think of the new teacher?" she asked,

"he's prettier than my mum" one girl cried, the rest of the girls giggled, Freddie rolled her eyes,

"other than how he looks" she said.

"I think he really likes us" Ophelia Zabini said "he seems happy to be here at least" as if on cue, Harry could be heard laughing from his desk, the girls giggled again.

"And he's not old like Mrs. Garvey!" another girl said "he won't complain about his back paining him!" the girls chattered in agreement.

'_so, it seems as if everyone likes him…for now' _Freddie thought. She herself was not so quick to like someone. True, she agreed with what the rest of the girls said, but she knew that one could not judge people on a basis of one day. She'd wait and see if Mr. Potter was worth her time.

* * *

Lily: I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONNNNG!!!! God! When was the last time I updated this!? DANG! Almost 2 months ago!? Geeeeeeh. I'm sorry sorry sorry! I was on Christmas break, and I had exams, and I had to pack to go back home, and then I got lazy during break, and I was running around with all my friends I haven't seen in forever, and then there was packing to come back and starting classes and all that jazz. Not to mention I' a bad bad girl who watched countless dramas and the like during all this. Anyway, sorry for the wait, really. I'll try to get it out sooner next time! I love you all who reviewed, seriously, thanks so much. If I've slipped on any of the details in this chapter, feel free to tell me.

Til next time!


	3. Problems

Lily: I have no excuses. Well…I do…I'm just not going to say them. Anyway, all I can say is sorry. Really, sorry.

Chapter 3: Problems

* * *

When Harry first stepped into the faculty lounge at Southward & Hobbs, he thought perhaps he had entered the wrong room. He checked the gold embossed letters on the plaque next to the door but, sure enough, they read "Faculty Lounge" in serious and completely unmistakable print.

The faculty lounge at PWS-112 had been a smallish room directly across (and downwind) from the boys' locker rooms. It had two tables and twelve plastic chairs that everyone knew were leftovers from the lunchroom. Against the wall that faced the door stood one long table which was always sticky and strewn with the odds and ends people usually required to make coffee. The coffee machine was an ancient composite of wizard and muggle technology that sometimes spluttered out thick, muddy coffee and sometimes…sometimes nothing that was anywhere near coffee. Nevertheless, the teachers and other faculty would congregate there and share the day's terror stories over their mugs of putrid coffee. It was a simple, but enjoyable way to relax and interact with fellow staff members. Looking around the cavernous room that constituted the Southward & Hobbes faculty lounge, Harry somehow doubted much bonding would be going on in it.

"Come on Harry, I know it's a little overwhelming but if the other teachers see you gawking like that, they'll take you for a bumpkin and then they'll shun you" Pansy said, jolting Harry from his awestruck reverie.

"I wasn't gawking!" he protested, following the woman into the room and trying to keep from staring _too _much at anything.

"You were, mouth open and all! You could have caught horseflies in it!" Pansy laughed quietly. Harry smacked her lightly and they both laughed but stopped abruptly upon meeting the stern, disapproving glares of about five other teachers sitting in various high backed armchairs near them. Shooting them apologetic looks, the two scurried off farther into the lounge, intent on finding a secluded area, far enough from the rest of the frowningly watchful staff where they could be free to speak in regular voices.

Minutes later they entered a small room in the farthest corner of the lounge. It was originally storage for supplies but, two years previously, an extremely generous parent bestowed two thousand galleons to the school and, among the many things the school spent it on, a larger storage space was one of them. Now, the room mainly held old yearbooks and an ancient lost and found.

"Aah, now I can let my hair down!" Pansy sighed and flung herself onto a squashy couch. Harry laughed and settled himself in a comfy armchair, slipping off his shoes and tucking his feet under his bum.

"You sure? Someone might sense the level of relaxation and frown you into an early grave!" he joked. Pansy giggled.

It had been three weeks since Harry had come to Southward & Hobbs. Among the things he had learned in that time was that public schools and private schools were worlds apart. He could probably find more similarities between a muggle public school and a wizard public school than he could between a wizard public and private school. The teachers at Southward & Hobbs were all uptight, stern, and disapproving of everything unconventional. The fact that Harry had "squandered" his excellent education teaching poor mongrel children for so long was a big issue with the majority of them. The rest of the staff was already beginning to shun him as hey had, Harry found out, shunned Pansy. Truthfully, this hurt him very little; being the well mannered types that they were, none of them would so much as whisper anything rude to them, and as long as they kept mum about their disapproval and disdain, Harry was fine with them not liking him.

"So the company party tonight, are you going?" Pansy asked, bringing up an issue Harry had not wanted to think on.

"Uuugh, no! I don't want to go" he groaned, slumping in his chair. Pansy glowered at him,

"come on now Harry! Why not! Hermione works for a really rich company so the party's bound to be spectacular! Drinks, dishy successful men!? What more can you ask for!?" she exclaimed, reiterating the points she'd been making to him for the past week. Harry groaned, he wished Hermione had never brought it up!

_Flashback-one week ago_

"_Hey guys, there's a party at my company next weekend and I've got two invites with your names on them!" Hermione, walking into Café Bambino minutes late for the lunch date she, Harry, and Pansy had planned, sang gleefully. Harry groaned and rolled his eyes, already uninterested._

"_God, not again" he moaned. Pansy looked at him quizzically, unsure about the aura of gloom that seemed to emanate from Harry's body. _

"_What's with him?" she asked Hermione who simply rolled her eyes back at Harry. She sat down and, taking a minute to order herself a cup of tea, then turned back to answer Pansy's question. _

"_Our Harry, lovely young thing that he is, is actually a creaky old grouse" she declared, Pansy's eyebrow hitched up higher and Hermione sighed,_

"_He hates parties, loathes them in fact. It's all to do with drunks and their wandering hands, vomiting, public fornication…" she trailed off but Pansy got the idea,_

"_But Harry," she said "that's what you'll get at any adult function with enough drinks to get everyone pissed and enough dodgy arseholes to insult, vomit on, or fornicate with everyone else. It's the way of life!" Hermione began nodding in agreement and the two of them stared at Harry's surly expression which didn't look as if it would abate anytime soon. Hermione sighed,_

"_Fine, I can see you're not ready to give in on this…again. Anyway, I'll leave the tickets with Pansy and give you this week to think it over. It's Friday at Club Eaves and its not going to be your typical office mish-mosh of booze, floozies, and vomit, it's going to be much classier…much less vomiting…probably." She slid the tickets over to Pansy as she spoke and, seeing that Harry really was going to continue being surly if the topic went on, changed the subject. _

_End flashback_

Pansy was giving him an expectant look, and Harry had to scramble to come up with something to deter her.

"Listen Pans, I've already got an exciting evening planned for tonight so, you see, I really can't go to this office party." He said, hoping she didn't posses the same sharp perception as Hermione and couldn't sense that his "exciting evening" consisted of gorging himself on ice cream and watching every romantic film known to man.

"Oh no Harry, Hermione's told me about you and your 'evenings' and let me tell you, all that ice cream will do _nothing _for your complexion" Pansy said, smirking slightly when Harry's shoulders slumped. He knew he was busted.

"But you _know _I hate these kinds of things. I didn't even like going to them when I was in school! Come on Pansy! What could I possibly be missing at this, one out of hundreds of wild office bashes?" he pleaded. Pansy's smirk only got wider,

"well, tonight, when you're there looking fabulous, tipping back the crème de la crème of fine liquors, and making every man in the room gawk, you'll know what you _would have _missed and then thank me and Hermione for making you go" she said and Harry knew that the discussion was over. He was going to this party and there was nothing short of mortal illness that would get him out of it.

* * *

Draco Malfoy's week had been hectic. First, Magda, his seemingly indestructible house keeper, had fallen ill and had to stay, against her vehement protests, with her family in order to recuperate. Despite hoping otherwise, it had become painfully apparent that Magda was getting too old to continue with the upkeep of his house and child. Draco, filled with regret, had had to let her go. Of course Magda had not wanted to leave, Merlin knew how much she loved Freddie and the big quiet penthouse that had become as much a home to her as her own house, but, at the urging of her children and Draco himself, she had taken her permanent leave. This left Draco in a very inconvenient position. He had trusted Magda implicitly with the care of Freddie and had never bothered to hire on a secondary nanny for her as Magda did such a fine job and because he didn't trust just anyone with the care of his daughter.

Now that Magda was gone, there was only Yeates, a man who had no children of his own and, though he loved Freddie, was in no position to care for a young girl. For one week Draco had taken over bathing, dressing, and cooking for Freddie. As Draco's culinary skills were limited to Insta-Fix packaged food (a sort of wizard's microwaveable meal) and cereal, Freddie's diet for that week took a turn for the worse.

On top of Magda's departure there had been problems in the Japanese HQ all week which Draco had been handling in long, tense video conferences. The trouble had finally escalated beyond the point of long distance assistance and Draco, after that night's office party, was going to have to take an overseas portkey over to Japan and sort out the problems himself. This was actually the main problem as, with him gone in Japan, there was nobody left to care for Freddie. All week Draco had been conducting carefully screened interviews, trying to find the right person to watch over Freddie while he was gone. All this, on top of the problems at work and the planning of that office party, meant that, by Friday, Draco was on a terribly short fuse.

It was nearing two when Hermione Granger, his secretary, came into his room with a note and a mug of steaming coffee.

"Here you are sir, I thought you might need this. And somebody called Yeates came in during your meeting with Director Yamanaka and left this note" she slid him the piece of paper and walked out of the office. Draco, taking a sip of the coffee, picked up the note and read it.

_Master Malfoy,_

_I regret to inform you that I must take leave for perhaps one week. I have received notice that my mother has taken a very bad fall and I must hurry to her residence to assist her until one of my brothers can arrive and take my place. I am terribly sorry sir, this has happened very suddenly and I know I am creating even more inconvenience in this. I do hope you understand. I shall return as quickly as possible and certainly within this week._

_Best of Wishes_

_William D. Yeates _

Draco sighed and dropped his head to the polished surface of his desk, feeling the headache that had lurked in his head all day spring to life and squeeze burning fingers into his skull and against his eyes. He glanced at the clock and decided that he had about one hour before he had to go and pick up Freddie. Before then he would floo his mother and ask her if she could take Freddie for the evening. Both of them would quite enjoy the arrangement. Groaning, he got up and headed towards the fireplace, his head pounding, hoping that at least _this_ plan would work out for him.

* * *

Big brown eyes were staring at Harry from beneath long eyelashes. The little girl's critical stare belonged to someone much older than her six years. The pair of them sat across from each other in silence, Harry, trying to grade worksheets, Fredericka Malfoy, staring at him as he worked.

It was ten past four and almost an hour past the time parents or drivers came to pick their children up. Usually, a kind looking older woman was the first to arrive and fetch Fredericka from school. Today, however, everyone had left and there was no sight of the little girl's ride.

Harry finished grading papers and set them aside with a sigh, finally looking at the little girl who had yet to take her eyes from him.

"So…." He said, slightly embarrassed at being stared at, "do you know where your ride is?" Freddie shook her head,

"no, Yeates should have been here by now" she said and then lapsed back into silence. Harry glanced at the door and then at the clock, he was supposed to be at Hermione's at six to get ready for the party. He didn't mind staying with Freddie, he just didn't want to face Hermione's wrath when he arrived late.

"You don't have to stay with me you know, I can take care of myself" Harry whipped around and faced the little girl who was glaring resentfully at the door as if that would produce her ride home. Harry smiled at her,

"You're six Miss Malfoy, I think I'd be a little irresponsible if I left you here alone. Besides, I don't mind, there's nothing I'm doing now anyway" he said and got up, deciding that, sitting there in silence wasn't the way to distract either of them from the ticking clock.

"Now, what's your favorite game?" he asked, looking down at Freddie,

"exploding snap…" the girls said cautiously. Harry's smile widened

"excellent" he said, rolling his sleeves up, "I'm a master at that game."

* * *

Draco found himself running down the halls of Southward & Hobbs, not caring that it was highly inappropriate. He was spectacularly late to pick up Freddie and could care less about the upturned noses and disdainful looks he could get from any teacher still left prowling the halls.

It was nearing seven, almost three hours past the time he was supposed to have arrived at the school. Guilt gnawed gleefully at his heart as he rushed through the halls. What kind of father was he? What parent left their daughter alone at school for that long after hours? And the fact that there was a new teacher did nothing to soothe the jittery nerves that raced through him. He knew nothing about this new teacher. Granted, when they had first met, he had felt nothing from the man that felt quite like the threatening or dark aura he imagined child molesters and the like to possess. But Draco knew better than to go on just feeling. Attractiveness did not equal harmlessness.

With this thought in mind Draco hurried his steps even more and felt small relief upon seeing the classroom door, light still glowing in the cracks. He got closer and heard something that stopped his heart cold. It was Freddie.

And she was screaming.

Suddenly shaking with panic and simmering undertones of rage, Draco managed to wrench open the door. Sharp eyes snapped around the room and came to a screeching halt on the figures in the center of the room.

There was Freddie, cheeks flushed pleasantly, eyes dancing, mouth wide open in mid-laugh. She was propped up in the air, held up in the hands of the new teacher who stood, equally flushed, staring like a deer in headlights at Draco.

"Father!" Freddie squealed and squirmed, the new teacher put her down and, in an instant, she was off running towards Draco. Slightly dumbstruck, Draco could only bend and lift her into his arms.

"Mr. Malfoy I presume" the new teacher said, stretching out a hand to shake, Draco took it and shook, feeling the panic and anger drain out of him just as quickly as it had come.

"What took you so long Father?" Freddie asked, Draco turned to her and suddenly all the guilt was back,

"I'm so, so, sorry darling. I was leaving but then I got a video call that I had to take care of and they just wouldn't let me leave! And the next thing I knew it was six thirty! I'll make it up to you, I promise!" Draco hoped he looked guilty enough to assuage her.

"hmmmmmm" Freddie frowned at him, still slightly unwilling to let it go,

"and you'll get to spend the entire weekend with Grandmother and Grandfather!" Draco threw in the piece-de-resistance and was rewarded with Freddie's brilliant smile.

"Oh-kay!" she singsonged.

"Well, now that you're sorted out little lady, I think I'll head on home" Harry said, drawing both Malfoys' attention to him. Freddie smiled at him,

"thank you for staying with her" Draco said and Harry looked at him.

When their eyes met this time, the same powerful feeling overcame both of them. Harry's lashes fluttered and his lips parted as a small gasp escaped him, Draco found himself drawn to those lips which were all of a sudden very fascinating.

"Father, Harry knows how to play exploding snap really well. Not better than me though" Freddie broke the trance the two had fallen in, Draco smiled at his daughter but couldn't help but stare from the corner of his eyes at how prettily this new teacher blushed.

"Shouldn't you be calling him Mr. Potter Fredericka?" Draco asked, Harry laughed a little,

"No, No, it's quite alright. I told her to call me my name. Mr. Potter makes me sound like an old man!" he said. Freddie gave her father a 'see?' look and Draco said,

"alight then, if it's alright with Mr. Potter." Harry nodded and bent to pick up his jacket,

"well, I've got to meet up with a friend. I'll see you on Monday Freddie! Mr. Malfoy, it was nice seeing you again." He said, and turned to leave the room.

"Bye Harry! We'll play exploding snap again on Monday!" Freddie said. Harry's answering smile was brilliant before he turned and left.

Draco was left alone with Freddie who he put down and began helping into her jacket.

"So, I suppose you and your teacher had fun together" he said conversationally. Freddie nodded,

"He's a great teacher Father, and he's really nice and gentle. All of our class loves him" her eyes were glittering as she spoke, as if she was remembering something very good,

"I wish…I wish he could play with me even out of class" Draco jerked at this statement, said so dreamily and absently. Freddie walked out of the room, and Draco followed, thinking.

Perhaps he had found an answer to his problems.

* * *

"Harry James Potter you are LATE!" Hermione Granger thundered, glowering down at a cowering Harry who sat on her couch.

It was already eight by the time Harry arrived at her apartment. By then, she and Pansy were already in the finishing stages of preparation and had only to perfect their hair and makeup before slithering into the dresses specially bought for the occasion. Of course, as the rules of engagements went, they weren't to show up a second before ten and were set to show up at exactly half an hour after that. First they would get ready, leave Hermione's flat by nine, swing round to Café Bambino for a small bite to eat (so they wouldn't be hungry and look like pigs at the actual party), and then over to the party itself for a long night of boozing and schmoozing.

"I've told you 'Mione, I had to watch over one girl whose parent was late picking her up" Harry tried not to sound as if he was making up an excuse because, for once, he wasn't. Hermione rolled her eyes and threw him a disgusted look,

"Just go take a shower Harry and start getting ready. We're due at the Café for sandwiches in half an hour" she said, and stomped over to her room to tease her frizzy locks into sleek submission.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later saw Harry, Hermione, and Pansy sliding into seats at the café under the appreciative, ogling eyes of their fellow customers. Hermione, in her tight black body map dress that was almost too short to be legal, knee high black boots with heels that could double as lethal weapons, and artfully done makeup, was a traffic stopper. Pansy, wearing an orange and cream lace and silk confection that clung to all the right curves paired with spiky orange heels and hair that gleamed and shone in a thick blonde waterfall down her back, was a surprising seductress. Harry, wearing black from head to toe, had been wrestled into the styling chair and had had his hair yanked and tugged at until he looked as if he had just been very roughly and satisfyingly shagged and had rolled out of bed and onto the street. His green eyes blazed out at the world and arrested anyone who caught his gaze.

All in all, the trio made for a pulse racing group.

They all ordered their food, Hermione with a lascivious wink at their waiter, a young boy who looked as if he might wet himself upon setting eyes on her.

"That was cruel Hermione" Harry admonished jokingly, and Hermione just shrugged. Pansy laughed,

"the poor boy's probably gone off to break down in the back room from nerves. He might fall in love with you Hermione" she giggled. Hermione feigned shock,

"you mean he isn't already in love with me? I must be losing my touch" she said, and tossed her hair. All three of them broke into laughter.

* * *

Club Eaves was an exclusive wizard's venue that regularly had a star guest list. Known for its spectacular parties and special events, it was notoriously difficult to get into and even more difficult to rent out. This being a well known fact, it was with great excitement that the employees of Malfoy Group and their guests shuffled into the club that Friday evening.

Bouncers the size of small mountains checked every guest's ticket and those with fake tickets or no ticket at all were, none to gently, thrown out. Harry, Hermione, and Pansy watched as the line crept slowly forward in front of them. Harry scowled and rubbed his arms,

"what did I say about getting here late Hermione?" he complained, feeling his fingertips skimming over goosebumps. Hermione jigged from foot to foot and craned her neck to see to the front of the line, feeling dread slither into her stomach at the snail pace it was moving at,

"I'm sorry, I just didn't think that any of these other stiffs would know the ten o clock rule too!" she said through chattering teeth. Pansy, in her paper-thin dress, was almost blue with cold

"uuuugh, I wish I'd brought that fur stole at least" she garbled out, her lips stiff and unwilling to form the words properly. Harry slung his arm around her on one side and Hermione on the other. The three of them stood shivering, inching forward with the line that seemed to go on forever. Harry turned and glared enviously at the VIP entrance which had no line, just the occasional expensively clothed witch or wizard flitting in past the single, bored looking bouncer. Just as he was about to turn away again, a white limo pulled up and out came a familiar shock of blonde hair.

* * *

Draco was not in a good mood.

After leaving Freddie securely with his mother, he had had to rush back home and prepare himself for the company party he hadn't wanted to attend in the first place. Sitting in the limo he had had to call for last minute (as Yeates was not there to drive him) he stared moodily out at the passing scenery of London. Ron, sprawled further down the seat, had been bullied into coming late with him.

"You're only going to scare away any potential dates for tonight if you keep looking like that mate" the redhead commented, taking a sip of the champagne he had poured for himself. Draco only scowled, he had no intention of prowling the party for dates.

"Come on Draco, I know you hate parties like these but, you never know, something could happen this time! Get you out of his funk you've been in" Ron urged, bored of the silence in the car and fearing his own buoyant mood would be weighed down by Draco's lugubrious one.

"Ron, I'm not going to this party in hopes of 'something' happening" Draco finally said, figuring he should disillusion the other man before he tried to set Draco up with every airheaded, barely dressed woman at the party. Ron only rolled his eyes, undeterred

"you say this, but I know deep down your little blonde heart is crying out for some love" he professed, pressing a hand against his own heart. Now Draco rolled his eyes and turned away from his ridiculous friend and back to the passing streets.

Up ahead, he saw the club and the long line of eager partygoers waiting to be let in. Shaking his head at the things people would go through for some alcohol and dancing, he waited for the car to come to a halt and the driver to come round and open the door.

"Ah, Party Central" Ron breathed, inhaling the chill night air. Draco got out of the car and stretched slightly, looking to his left as he did and meeting a pair of familiar green eyes.

"Draco!?" a female voice called and Draco turned to face the person who had called him. What he saw made him smile for the first time in hours,

"Pansy!?" he said and strode over to where the woman stood. He noticed that she was standing very close to Harry Potter and a woman who could be his secretary Hermione Granger wearing very little clothes. He watched as Pansy extricated herself from the other two and came forward to give him a hug. He could feel Ron's stunned gaze drilling holes into the back of his head but he didn't care. He hadn't seen Pansy Parkinson in far too long.

"How have you been!? It's been so long!" Pansy exclaimed when they broke apart; Draco smiled down at her,

"Indeed it has, I've been doing well, and you?" he asked, she returned his smile

"I've been lovely, a bit cold recently though" she joked and Draco finally took notice of her clothes which could pass as negligee if there was slightly less fabric. He glanced at the line which, even to him, seemed to not be moving and then back at her.

"Alright, let's get you inside. It should be much warmer there" he said. Pansy bit her lip and glanced behind to the other two people she had been standing with,

"can you get my two friends in too? I'd not feel right leaving them out here while I escape inside" her blue eyes were pleading and Draco remembered that he could never resist that look, on her, on Freddie, or, he thought slightly sadly, on Antonia.

"Alright then, call them over" he agreed and was happy when she smiled brilliantly at him and went to get her friends.

"Who, is _that_" Ron, who had hung back while he and Pansy talked, sidled up to him. Draco turned to him and saw that his eyes were locked firmly on Pansy. For a brief moment Draco felt his blood run cold with rage and then he reminded himself that, lustful though that look was, this was Ron, his best mate. Sighing, he clapped a hand on Ron's shoulder and squeezed enough to cause slight pain, Ron winced,

"she's a very dear old friend Weasley. A **very. Dear. Friend**" Draco enunciated. Ron smirked and shrugged off Draco's hand,

"alright Draco, I'll watch myself. Sweet Merlin, is that Hermione Granger!?" his attention was momentarily diverted to the woman walking towards them with Pansy who he realized, with slight shock, _was _Hermione Granger.

"Draco, these are my friends Hermione Granger and Harry Potter" Pansy said, stopping in front of the two men.

"We've met" Draco said dryly, eyes moving from Hermione to Harry and then back to Pansy.

"I'm Mr. Malfoy's secretary" Hermione said, not at all embarrassed to be seen attired in such a fashion by her boss.

"And Fredericka Malfoy in my class is his daughter" Harry said. Pansy smiled,

"I should have known, she's such a gorgeous little girl" she said. Draco felt pride well up inside him at the comment and was about to thank Pansy when a cough next to him reminded him that there was one person who didn't know everyone yet.

"Oh, this is Ronald Weasley, the CEO of the British branch of Malfoy Group and, perhaps unfortunately, my best friend" he introduced Ron who elbowed him for the last jibe and stepped forward and smiled at the other three. He took Pansy's hand and kissed her fingertips,

"Ron Weasley, _very _nice to meet you" he said. Then he turned and did the same to Harry who realized, blushing, that he must have been mistaken for a woman. Finally he turned to Hermione and took her hand,

"Hermione Granger" he said, holding her eyes with his "who would have guessed" and then he kissed her fingers. Hermione, to her credit, only blushed slightly before turning her nose up and walking towards the door.

"Well? Are we going in? It's terribly cold out here" she said. Draco and Ron hurried forward, told the bouncer to allow the other three in, and stepped into the pulsing, warm, air of the club.

* * *

Lily: AAAUUUUGGGGGHHHH. God, Oh God that was difficult to put together. I think I hate it. But only for right now. When I go back and read it later before posting it up (later because there is no internet at my house) I'll probably like it. Anyway, this was eleven pages which I hope held enough material and goings on for right now to carry you on until the next chapter. I realize that I'm madly, and terribly in love with this story. I just get caught up in real life too often to actually update on time. I'm going to be going away for a really long time soon so I want to finish this baby, I'd love to see it set to rest. So, I'd like to say to anyone still reading this to look forward to it. I have so many ideas about this story that are clambering around my head, I know exactly what I want for these characters and I'll be damned if I don't see it happen. Anyway, as it's been a while since I wrote the last chapter, I think I might have some inconsistencies. I did my best to keep it smooth but if anyone spots anything, please don't hesitate to point it out. Sometimes the writer misses what should be very obvious. Anyway, much love to anyone who's still with it, who's just reading it, and who'll read it in the future. And to **twihart94 **A THOUSAND BILLION TRILLION KAJILLION thanks yous and lots and looooots of love!


	4. Motion

Lily: In an attempt to keep good on my intention to finish this, I'm putting this up as soon as I finish it. Also, I've had this mad rush of inspiration for this and found myself plotting out key moments in class. I know basically what I'm going to do for this story, it's all just kinda wedging in the details to fit around the plot. Ok, enough rambling. I'd lurv to thank all you lovely people who reviewed last chapter, you're all simply marvelous.

* * *

Chapter 4: Motion

* * *

Inside Club Eaves, the Malfoy Group office party had worked itself up to a fever pitch. Music throbbed from hidden speakers and vibrated the walls; Harry felt it thump in his body as if it was his heartbeat.

He stood alone on the outskirts of the dance floor, surrounded by writhing, sweaty bodies. As soon as they had stepped inside, Pansy had gone off to catch up with Draco Malfoy, Hermione had disappeared towards the bar, and Draco's redheaded friend had been latched onto by a pair of barely dressed blondes. Left alone, Harry could only awkwardly drift to a table and sit for a while, content to watch the people milling around the room while sipping on a deliciously warm hot chocolate he had managed to wrangle a waiter into getting him.

Then, about an hour after they had arrived, the entire atmosphere of the club changed. Where it had been very similar to a cocktail lounge when he had walked in, it suddenly became a club in earnest. A man in a stunning silver robe had appeared on the raised dais on which the DJ booth sat, casting a _sonorous _on himself, he had announced that it was "time to get the party _really _started". Instantly, the cozy tables and booths littered around the room had melted away. The people sitting at them found themselves perched on barstools and then whizzed towards the two new bars that had materialized. A new DJ had taken the controls of the DJ booth and the calm, soothingly low music that had been wafting through the room was replaced by extremely loud dance mixes.

Harry, who found himself suddenly at a bar, was more than a little bewildered. Not wanting to continue sitting at the bar, and not wanting to just leave and ditch his friends, he had wandered towards the newly formed dance floor and there he had stayed for the past half hour.

"Don't you look like you're having fun" a voice said into his ear and Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. He whipped around and relaxed when he found Hermione standing there holding two foaming drinks in her hands.

"I told you I don't like these kinds of things" he shouted in response, accepting the cup and taking an experimental sip of the concoction inside it.

"Come on Harry, you're not even trying!" Hermione chastised, fixing him with a stern look. Harry sipped more of his drink (which tasted very pleasant and not as alcoholic as he had expected)

"I _am _trying 'Mione, I just don't feel up to it" he whined, giving her puppy eyes that just begged to let him go home. Hermione scowled at him,

"don't think I'm falling for that Harry Potter. When you finish this drink you're going to go onto the dance floor and show them all the things those hips can do! And don't think I'll let you slink off again!" she said and Harry could tell she was slightly tipsy but would make good on her promise to not let him get away. He had no choice, a determined Hermione was an inescapable Hermione. Sighing, he knocked back the rest of his drink, handed it to Hermione and, after a short spasm of shoulder rolling and neck cracking, he was ready.

* * *

Draco and Pansy had been nestled close together catching up on things when Ron, more than a little tipsy, had sidled up and swept Pansy away towards the dance floor. Draco had been scaring away dance partners for his old friend all night but felt safe enough to leave her with Ron who, though known as a heartbreaker or womanizer, wouldn't do anything bad to her. Left by himself, Draco observed as his employees worked themselves up to a fever pitch party level around him. A woman he remembered vaguely as being a secretary in one of the departments jigged her way by, sloshing her drink onto his shoe but not noticing and thus not seeing Draco's death glare which followed her until she had disappeared into the crowd. Draco typically didn't like parties of this sort; there was always some sort of embarrassing conduct that led to awkwardness and extreme remorse the next day. He avoided this himself by limiting his drink intake and dissuading any overeager would-be partners from throwing themselves at him.

"Sweet Merlin! Who's that!?" a man next to him slurred to his friend. Draco looked at the two men who sat staring, mouths open, in the direction of the dance floor. Draco followed their line of sight and froze as he saw what exactly it was they were so fixated on.

To say he looked good would have been an understatement punishable by prison sentence. The way his body moved, gracefully, sensually, was an art that made the jerky movements of his fellow dancers seem all the more awkward and gauche. Draco's mind was like a car which had stalled going uphill and was now doing a plummet backwards through his memories. From the first time they met up until the moment just before he clapped eyes on him on the dance floor, Draco could never have guessed Harry Potter could move like _that_.

More people gathered by the original pair of gawkers, women and men alike stared openly at him, as enthralled as if they were under a spell. Draco knew that if he was less of a Malfoy he, too, would be gawking with his mouth wide open.

* * *

After ten minutes of swaying side to side on the dance floor, Harry had been able to lose himself in the music and forget his surroundings. Harry, a very peculiar partygoer in the first place, was unable to dance when he was aware of people around him. In most dancing situations he was limited to an awkward side to side movement not unlike the slow swish of trees in the wind. However, when he was able to forget himself and truly let go, Harry Potter turned into something of a dancing genius. His body, one moment as stiff as wood, became fluid and graceful, as attuned to the music as it was humanly possible to be.

As the music pounded and throbbed inside his body he suddenly became aware of something. He could feel it, though his eyes were closed.

Someone was watching him.

He could feel this person's gaze as if it was a lover's gentle, but possessive, touch. He felt it all over his body but, strangely, this gaze did not make him immediately wish to stop dancing. Instead, beneath this stranger's invisible gaze, he felt bolder, wanted to do more.

Suddenly the song that had been on, a repetitive techno beat that had been playing for the past five minutes, changed. The room was suddenly filled with a fast paced Latin sounding song. Instantly, Harry felt his body change gears with the song and fall into a set of movements he knew well. Taking a deep breath, he paused in a lull in the music and then, with that mystery person's eyes watching him, he spun into movement.

* * *

"Well…" Pansy's reaction to the sight that was slowly capturing most of the club's attention was mild shock. Perhaps because her mind had not fully processed what it was she was seeing. Or perhaps it was because she could not quite believe what it was she was seeing. Because, surely, that blur of arms and legs on the dance floor, swaying hips and sultry "come hither" looks in pauses, was not Harry Potter. How could it be? Any person who danced like _that _could not possibly be as party-hating as Harry was.

"Well indeed" beside her Ron Weasley stood, his eyes lit with extreme appreciation.

"Your friend dances a damn sight better than I ever could" he commented. Pansy, eyes still trained on Harry, nodded

"better than me too" she said. Ron smirked and took her hand, whirling her around to face him,

"now now, I seem to remember earlier we were doing some dancing and your footwork was nothing to sneeze at. I say we continue, you know, good practice and all that" he said, his other arm wrapping around her waist. Pansy smiled and stepped into the embrace,

"practice? _Only _practice?" she said, smiling up at him. His smirk grew,

"Cheeky aren't you?" he said. Pansy laughed and he swept her into a dip.

"Only a little." She said and then they were off.

* * *

Hermione had had an extremely good night. She had danced with several very handsome men, had drank some very well mixed drinks, and had held a conversation with several people who weren't drunk out of their minds or simply insufferable. By the time it was nearing 2am, the time the club closed, she was all partied out. Harry was unknowingly forming his own fan club in the middle of the dance floor, Pansy was off dancing with, and this Hermione couldn't quite believe, Ron Weasley, and Draco was at the bar staring very intensely at Harry. This, Hermione found the most interesting and she chuckled slightly as she took a seat at the bar farthest from the dance floor.

"What is so very interesting miss?" a heavily accented voice asked from beside her. Hermione turned to see an unfamiliar man smiling at her. Hermione, though slightly drunk, knew she could recognize any man this handsome who worked in their office and this very handsome man was certainly not one of them. She let her eyes explore his face; he had very chiseled features and light colored eyes which were startling against his dark complexion. His lips, currently stretched into a smile, were pleasantly full and covering a set of perfectly straight white teeth.

"I remembered a hilarious joke someone told me earlier. If I may ask…" Hermione replied but the man cut her off,

"who are you, right? That's what you were about to ask?" he said, and, at Hermione's surprised look, laughed.

"All the people from your office have been asking me that all night, especially the women." His voice took on a mischievous, knowing tone as he said the last part and Hermione shot him a look, annoyed at being caught in the act.

"Well, yes…who are you then" she said prissily. He laughed again,

"I am Blaize Zabini. I'm the new head of Malfoy Group Italy" he said, extending his hand "and you, miss?" Hermione gave him her hand,

"Hermione Granger, Mr. Malfoy's personal secretary" she said. He locked eyes with her and brought her hand to his lips,

"_Piacere_" he said, and Hermione shivered at the feeling of his lips moving against her hand. She could feel his lips curve into a smile against her hand and she snatched it back,

"likewise…" she said, clearing her throat "nice to meet you."

* * *

Harry returned from the dance floor slightly limping. He had been dancing for a long time before he had gotten too tired. By the time he fully came back to his surroundings he had managed to garner the attention of a great many more people than he would have been comfortable with normally. Suddenly very embarrassed, he had nearly run off the dance floor and towards the bar, intent on a tall cold glass of water.

"Barkeep! Water please" he said tiredly, sliding onto one of the barstools and slumping onto the somewhat sticky tabletop.

"Mr. Potter, you dance very well" a familiar voice said from his right. Harry, too tired to actually lift his head, turned in the cradle of his arms and was mortified to see Draco Malfoy looking at him. Suddenly not quite so tired, Harry sat up and was thankful for the water the barman plunked down in front of him. Taking a sip, he averted his eyes from the other man,

"ah, well…er…thanks" he mumbled. They sat together in awkward silence while Harry made himself as busy as possible drinking his water.

"So, do you usually go out on the town with Hermione and Pansy, you must to dance like you do" Draco said, Harry shook his head vigorously,

"Oh no! I almost never go out like this. Hermione and Pansy forced me on pain of death" he said and Draco laughed, giving him a sympathetic look. He knew how very persuasive both women could be.

"Well, I take it that Freddie will have a lot to talk about on Monday. Spending the weekend at her grandparents' house and all" Harry said, not wanting to sit through silence. Draco laughed again,

"Oh yes, I'm sorry but you and the rest of the school will hear about nothing but that for at least the next week" Harry smiled and sipped his water,

"Oh no, I love hearing her stories about her grandparents, she always sounds as if she has so much fun" he said "your daughter is a very well spoken child. The way she describes things, its almost like being there myself!" his eyes took a far off cast to them and Draco knew he was looking at his own memories of childhood.

"You…you like Freddie quite a bit, don't you Mr. Potter" Draco ventured, suddenly remembering an idea he had had earlier. Harry snapped himself out of his daze,

"I do, she's a very lovely girl. You're lucky to have a daughter like her" he said then his eyes were caught by Hermione waving at him from across the room, her face clearly telling him to come over. He finished his water with one last gulp and turned to Draco,

"well, Mr. Malfoy, it looks like Hermione says its time to go home. It was a very lovely party" he said and stood. Draco smiled at him,

"it was nice seeing you again Mr. Potter, be careful on your way home." he said. Harry thanked him again, and left, feeling oddly pleased.

* * *

Hermione had watched Harry and Draco converse for about ten minutes and allowed all sorts of calculating thoughts to whizz around before she got tired of standing around on her own and had flagged Harry over. Pansy had said she wanted one last dance with Ron before she was ready to go and Hermione had left them to their fun while she watched Harry. Now she watched as Harry exchanged goodbyes with Draco and wound his way through the crowd towards her. He was stopped in several places by admiring fans of his dancing and Hermione could see that he was becoming more and more embarrassed each time. Finally, red faced and fed up, Harry arrived by her side,

"let's go home" he said, and Hermione coughed to hide laughter before replying.

"We're waiting on Pansy, her and Ron have been together all night" she said, Harry's sullen look was replaced by one of delighted surprise,

"That big red headed one who arrived with Mr. Malfoy!? He was kind of handsome!" he remarked, flashing back to when they had first arrived and he had first noticed the other man who had come with Draco.

"Good height for Pansy too," he said thoughtfully. Hermione rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. It wouldn't do to go slagging Ron off to Harry, he was entirely too nice to believe her. Besides, despite mostly teasing her, she knew Ron wasn't all that bad a man, she would let Harry _and _Pansy get to know him better know him better on their own.

"Oh, it's Pansy!" Harry said next to her and waved at the other girl to get her attention. Once she noticed them, Pansy started walking in their direction. Hermione felt relief flood her, finally, they were leaving. Just as Pansy reached them she was stopped and spun around by someone, Harry and Hermione watched, entranced, as Ron pulled her forward, took her chin in his hand, and carefully, slowly, placed a chaste kiss on her lips.

"I had a lovely time, but now I think I better hand you over to your friends. Goodnight, I'll be in touch" he said, but Pansy looked so dazed that Hermione doubted she understood a word of what he said.

"Night Hermy! Goodnight Harry, it was nice meeting you" Hermione bristled at the unattractive nickname Ron always called her and Harry smiled and bid the other man goodnight, then he was gone.

"G'night…" Pansy said dazedly, still staring up at nothing, a dreamy smile on her face. Hermione rolled her eyes again and grabbed her,

"come on Harry" she commanded, and began dragging Pansy towards the door. Harry chuckled and followed.

* * *

Lily: Gah, it's been a long time eh? Sorry, it's crunch time y'all, serious hard core crunch time. At school I mean. It's been busy with life and all that so this chapter isn't as long as usual, sorreeeee! I definitely wrote the beginning and end of this chapter at separate times because of this business. Anyway, I felt like this was a good place to end it. The next chapter will be out in idontknowhowlong and idontknowwhen but it'll be out. Ummmmmm, well, I think this chapter was for setting things into motion mostly, and I'm sure anyone who reads this chapter can already see where I'm going…or can you? I have some surprises here and there =D. Anyway, I hope you liked it! Questions? Praise? Cookies? Reviews!!!!


	5. A Proposal

Lily: In an attempt to explain my months of absence I will now break into a five minute song sequence accompanied by a carefully coordinated dance number…..ah good, now that that's done, I do suppose I should summarize the song for those of you who couldn't understand the words of the song (I understand, its sometimes very difficult to hear the words over the music). Well basically the song talked about how there were finals, and then there was all that paperwork I had to do for travel, and then summer school which effectively swooped my energy away from anything good and fun and interesting. And now there's even more travel preparations, baaah! Ah, so, yeah, I'm writing this kind of late at night and then I'm off to sleepytiiime! Anyway, ENJOYEEEEE!

* * *

Waking up the morning after the party was as close to hell as Harry had gotten in a long time. He considered it extremely lucky that, as a schoolteacher, he didn't have to go into work on Saturdays. In fact, the only one in their trio who had to wake up and drag herself off to the office was Hermione, who would have been in better shape for it had they not been awake until 5 am.

They had slept at Harry's apartment when Pansy had seen the sun start rising and they decided it would be good to turn in for the night. Harry barely remembered jamming the key into the lock and stumbling into his flat before he had passed out from exhaustion. He, Pansy, and Hermione had not even bothered to remove their party clothes which, as a result of energetic sleeping habits and awkward sleep positions, were now wrinkled ruins of their former glory.

"Harry…?" Pansy was finally waking up, looking about the room through slit eyes. She sat up and ran a hand through her bird's nest of blonde hair, still peering around groggily,

"where's Hermione?" she croaked, noticing that the other woman was not there.

"Work" Harry replied from his tangle of blankets on the floor. Pansy nodded,

"kay…m'a go back to sleep" she mumbled before collapsing once more onto the couch. She was out cold within minutes.

While Pansy snored lightly on the couch, Harry found he was suddenly fully awake. He lay on the floor on his back, observing his ceiling as flashes of the previous night danced through his memory.

One scene slid into his thoughts and made him heave a sigh tinged with embarrassment and…something else. It was the time he spent with Draco Malfoy.

Their history with each other was short to the point of almost not existing. He had encountered the man few enough times as to be able to count them on one hand. As true as that was, however, Harry could remember feeling something powerful stir in him every time he had come in contact with the blond; something that had not stirred ever since the early days with Todd.

Last night at the bar, awkward though he may have felt after having been seen dancing like he was, had been no different. He was used to thinking of rich wizards as a species almost entirely different from the average masses. Since he had started at Southward & Hobbs, his perception of the wealthy had intensified the feeling of difference. He was used to the detachment the parents had from their offspring and the replacement of affection with money. He was even used to the workaholic attitudes of some of the parents which was another form of estrangement. But Draco Malfoy was different.

Fredericka Malfoy obviously loved her father and her father more than obviously doted on her. Of course, Draco Malfoy had no time to be there constantly, even Harry could see that, but, from the stories he had heard from Freddie and her friends, he was around often enough to not be terribly missed. This, Harry approved greatly of. He had grown up with extremely loving parents in a modest but stable household; he had never known neglect like some of his class did. Negligence, even steeped in opulence, was a lonely way of life for a child.

*knock knock*

The sound of someone at the door broke Harry's train of thought and, groaning, he rose from his "bed" to answer it.

"Coming!" he called, wiping his eyes as he went and wondering who would be calling on him at this early hour.

"Good Morni—" he said but stopped, mouth half open in shock as he realized just who it was standing on his doorstep, staring at him in last night's clothes and hair a mad scientist would balk at.

_Oh…bollocks _

_

* * *

  
_

"Are we there yet?" she was excited, as all children were wont to be when out on an "adventure" (of sorts).

"Not yet darling" he was almost at his wit's end. If this didn't work out like he was hoping it would, the next week or so would suddenly take a turn for the ugly.

"But you said he only lives a little while away from the school!" she whined, craning her neck to stare intently out the car window.

"Darling, we'll get there, relax." He soothed, trying to sound as calm as he didn't feel.

"But Daddyyyyy!" she was in one of her rare childish moods and looked at him with big eyes and a pouty mouth as if this was going to expedite the trip. He could only sigh,

"Fredericka" he explained calmly "we are only about twenty minutes away, but if you keep whining and distracting me, I could get lost and then it would take twice as long."

Freddie, sitting in the front seat of her father's car, flumped back into the seat and stared straight ahead, determined to be on her best behavior so that they would get to their destination in good time.

Draco heaved a mental sigh and refocused on the road, hoping he didn't miss the exit he needed to take.

It was Saturday and he was already very late for the portkey to Japan. He would have to pay a small fee to reschedule it but that wasn't what was bothering him. The thing that was creating a snarled knot of tension and nerves in his stomach was the fact that, if the person they were going to see didn't agree to his proposal, his daughter was left without a caretaker and he was suddenly in very hot water.

Initially he had wanted to send Freddie off to his parents, however they had left to Jamaica for his Father's annual company vacation earlier that morning and they could not just put it off. Now he was depending on this one last plan to come through.

"Daddy?" Freddie said suddenly,

"yes?" Draco replied, turning off the highway and steering the car to the right side of the road,

"I hope Harry agrees to this"

Draco, realizing they were just ten minutes away from Harry's apartment, could only pray that he would.

"He will," he tried to assure the little girl.

Ten minutes later they stood in front of a medium sized apartment complex which stood squashed between a deli and a donut shop. On the outside, it appeared to be like any other aging muggle building. Parts were crumbling, there were rusting metal flower boxes that must have once been beautiful, and streaks of brownish…matter that interrupted the faded red of the brick. The doorman was ancient and squat and wore a scruffy penguin tuxedo in magenta with a matching ratty cummerbund. He peered at Draco and Freddie as they walked uncertainly up to him and gave a somewhat grudging "Mornin'" when they stopped in front of him.

"Excuse me sir," Draco asked, "we're looking for a Mister Harry Potter."

The doorman shuffled away from his spot blocking the entrance to the complex and opened the door for them.

"Myrtle, front desk. She'll point you." he grunted. Draco thanked him and ushered Freddie inside.

The inside of the complex was a far sight better than the outside. Polished and gleaming wood floors were lit by soft and inoffensive lighting from the many brass light fixtures and the grand chandelier in the center of the hall. One wall was entirely covered by diamond shaped mail slots with brass numbers on each one. There were three chairs and a couch around a rug by a fireplace in a corner. The only other thing was an ornate writing desk, painted powder blue, which stood on the opposite wall from the mail slots. An elderly woman sat there blinking owlishly at them through enormous bejeweled glasses.

"Such a lovely daughter you have sir" she croaked. Draco, who had been looking around for stairs or an elevator, almost jumped,

"Ah, yes, thank you. You must be Myrtle, I'm looking for a Mister Harry Potter." He said, striding up to the desk. Myrtle granted him a yellow toothed smile before looking down and addressing a bright pink rolodex that sat on the desk

"Harry Potter please" she chirped. The rolodex flapped to life, spinning through the cards and arriving at one with a soft *ding*

"Ah, Number 400! Lovely young man that one. Such lovely girls he has over all the time too! And one striking young man used to be in here more often than even me!" she cackled and then peered up at Draco through the thick lenses of her glasses "you're not him though, are you? No, no, much better looking than him. That young Mister Potter, always with the good looking ones!" she let loose another gravelly laugh.

"Ah…yes…" Draco said awkwardly, after a moment, "if you could please point us to the elevator, we'll be on our way."

Myrtle looked confused for a minute and looked around, bewildered, before her eyes brightened and she thwacked herself on the forehead, laughing her smoker's laugh

"Oh yes, I do forget sometimes. We keep it hidden. For some reason it's the one thing that never fully disappears when muggles see the glamour we have on this place. If you just go straight through that wall right there, you'll find it" she said, pointing one gnarled, be-ringed finger towards the blank wall that faced the entrance.

"Thank you" Draco said, heading to the wall.

"This place is so different from ours" Freddie commented, eyes wide with amazement as they had been since they had entered the neighborhood.

"Don't stare when we get to Mr. Potter's" Draco warned as they stepped into the elevator and began their ascent "it's rude and unbecoming of a Malfoy."

"Of course I won't Father" Freddie said, spine straightening "I know my manners."

The elevator pinged and the doors slid open to reveal a narrow hallway with several identical doors lining the wall.

"Very well then" Draco said and stepped out, eyes scanning the numbers on the doors.

"There's 400!" Freddie said, pointing at the door at the end of the hall and dragging Draco towards it.

The feeling of nervousness that had been like a steadily growing ache in Draco's stomach was now a full blown nuisance. He wasn't usually this way about negotiating things; he was a businessman for Merlin's sake! He could face down the toughest of opponents without flinching and the fact that one schoolteacher was making him sweat like he was a teenager again wasn't something he liked at all.

Suddenly they were right in front of the door and all Draco could do for a minute was stare at the brass 400 on the door,

"well? Aren't you going to knock?" Freddie asked, staring quizzically up at him.

Draco snapped out of his daze and knocked.

"Coming!" Harry's voice, sounding unusually croaky, came muffled through the door. They heard footsteps and then the door unlocked and swung open to reveal a sleep tousled Harry Potter.

An unexpected jolt of desire hit Draco square in the stomach but before he could speculate any more on that, Harry had looked up and paused mid-greeting upon realizing who exactly it was that was calling on him that morning.

"Right…er…good morning" Draco said awkwardly, his uncharacteristic case of nerves running rampant through his system and impairing his ability to speak properly. Freddie, completely undisturbed, waved cheerfully at her teacher,

"Good Morning Harry!" she chirped brightly, "can we come in?"

Her question launched Harry into action, and he felt a furious blush rise to his face,

"um, right, sorry, just give me two minutes. Sorry" he said hurriedly, shutting the door.

Freddie looked up at her father,

"I think we caught him off guard" she said solemnly, as sounds, not entirely pleasant ones, began filtering through the door.

"That we did…" Draco mumbled in reply.

* * *

As Freddie and her father stood outside his door, Harry rocketed around his flat attempting to clean up enough to look decent for company. He roused Pansy who, mortified at the prospect of being seen in such a state, had made a mad dash to the bathroom to clean herself up. While she clanked around in there, he made a heroic effort to straighten his sitting room and make it look as if three grown people hadn't slept in it the night before. Blankets and pillows sailed through the air and into his bedroom; one pillow hit Pansy in the face as she came out of the bathroom looking miles better.

"Oh Merlin's beard Pans! Can you finish up out here while I have myself a brush and a little bit of a fix up?" Harry begged, arms full of linens. Pansy nodded and Harry bolted to the bathroom.

After three minutes of mashing a toothbrush against his teeth and dragging a brush through his hair, he felt he looked at least presentable. Making sure there was no crust in his eyes (or anywhere else), he exited the bathroom to find that the sitting room was completely presentable. Pansy stood waiting for him with a change of clothes; she herself wore a pair of Harry's jeans and one of his shirts.

"Thanks a million Pans" he said, changing hurriedly.

"Yeah, Yeah. Hurry up. It's been all of five minutes and the tea's not even done."

She ambled into the kitchen to check on the kettle that sat steaming on the stove as Harry zipped up his pants and went back to the door.

Opening it, he smiled apologetically and allowed Draco and Freddie into the flat.

Five minutes later, Pansy, after hearing that the little girl's breakfast had consisted of half a bowl of Merlin-O's, had taken Freddie into the kitchen to pick something she would like to eat. Draco and Harry sat at Harry's tiny breakfast table over steaming cups of tea,

"So, Mr. Malfoy, what brings you to my apartment today?" Harry asked, taking a stabilizing sip of hot sweet tea. He looked at Draco over the rim of his cup, taking in how the blonde looked in his apartment. There hadn't been a single other man in his apartment since Todd had left and the sight of Draco, so tall and…blond, taking up so much space in his small flat, left Harry feeling oddly tingly.

"I…actually I have a proposal for you" Draco said seriously, leaning forward over his own tea (which Harry noted he took with no sugar and no milk). Harry sipped from his cup and nodded for Draco to go on,

"you see Mr. Potter…I must leave to Japan for very dire business reasons today and, as you may have noticed, both my housekeeper and butler are suddenly out of commission. To put it simply Mr. Potter, there is no one available to watch my daughter."

Harry nodded, sympathy for the man welling up in his heart,

"My parents are both in Jamaica and, though I've conducted many interviews, a suitable candidate has not appeared; which brings us to the purpose of my visit today."

Suddenly Harry understood and his eyes widened. Draco, mistaking this as a sign of panic, rushed on

"I truly did not wish to bother you Mr. Potter, and I know you must already be very busy. Be that as it may I…I have no other options. I know my daughter adores you, and I know you would take good care of her. I'll only be gone for a week or two at the very most and I would pay you very generously. You would have to live at our flat for a while but I will provide anything you could need and…" Harry held up a hand to stop Draco from babbling.

"Mr. Malfoy" he said, smiling, "I would love to look after Freddie while you're gone"

Relief flooded Draco's overtaxed system and all the nervousness seemed to melt away. He opened his mouth to thank Harry but was beat to it by Freddie who, emerging momentarily from the kitchen, squealed and threw herself at the other man,

"Oh thank you Harry! We'll have the best time ever at my flat! I promise!" she exclaimed. Harry smiled at her,

"of course we will" he said.

"Thank you very much Mr. Potter. You have no idea how much this is helping" Draco said. Harry looked up at him and shook his head,

"no," he said. Draco looked at him puzzled,

"pardon?" he said.

Harry's smile widened as he hoisted Freddie onto his lap,

"Mr. Malfoy, if I'm going to live in your house and take care of your daughter, you're going to have to call me Harry."

Draco felt himself smiling in return,

"Well then _Harry_" he said, "I must insist you call me Draco"

"Deal" Harry said.

"Pancakes are ready!" Pansy called from the kitchen. Freddie gave an excited whoop and ran to the kitchen, dragging Harry with her.

Draco, watching his daughter laughing and smiling, knew that she would be in good hands.

* * *

Lily: Ok, okokok I know this is still not moving along. I prmise (PROMISE!) that after this chapter, things should speed along much better. I know nothing much really happened here and I don't know why it takes so long for me with this fic. I have a lot of background things going on in it I suppose, I'm learning to do without that. But anyway, the next should be up fairly quickly seeing as, despite having to round up supplies for the next year I'm spending in another country, I have a remarkable amount of free do nothing time. . Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter…even though…you know…nothing really happened. It was 8 pages of…I don't know…I enjoyed writing it though :D.


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